Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)

We are spending most of our life time within building in which we reside, work or leisure and workout. Sick building syndrome is when we suffer symptoms of illnesses or get infected with chronic diseases from those buildings.

The outbreaks may be a direct result of defects in the construction materials. The reasons could also hide behind inadequate assembly processes or rather inadequate maintenance, inadequate cleaning or inappropriate cleaning methods, and sometimes bad planned building aerodynamics.

You might also have heard of “building-related symptoms” instead of SBS. Thereby the name is rather oriented of the conditions around the symptoms of the patients rather than the buildings themselves being “sick”.

In 1984 a report of the World Health Organization (WHO) suggested that up to 30% of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may be subject of complaints related to poor indoor air quality. Contaminants which are produced by out gassing of building materials, volatile organic compounds (VOC) or improper exhaust ventilation of ozone which are in some cases the byproduct of some office machinery have been further causes being named. Light industrial chemicals used within, or lack of adequate fresh-air intake/air are other causes which have been attributed to.

In 2003 SBS was also confirmed as a vector for the transmission of SARS and furthermore because and its ability to survive in the environment Norovirus has been linked with buildings.