Southeastern National Tuberculosis Center

Airborne Infection Isolation (AII) Room Testing
In order for your Airborne Infection Isolation (AII) Room to maintain its negative pressure flow, the door and food flap (if part of the door) must be kept closed at all times when the room is in use for airborne infection isolation.

Even if your negative pressure rooms use gauges, consider using this quick inexpensive test to verify that your gauges are working correctly.

Monitoring an Airborne Infection Isolation Room (AIIR) Using One-ply TissueUsing one or two squares of one-ply toilet paper (if you have two-ply, separate it to make one-ply):

1. Hold the tissue one inch above the floor and one inch out from the bottom of the door.

2. Watch which way the tissue moves (it should pull toward the bottom of the door).

3. Release the tissue from your hand.

Results:

- Sucked under the door and into the room = negative pressure

- Flutters at the bottom of the door = neutral pressure

- Flutters toward your leg = positive pressure

If the test result is anything other than negative pressure, the AII room should be removed from use until it can be checked by maintenance and returned to working order.

See the one-ply tissue when the negative pressure is working:

CDC Guidance

Isolation Precautions

Contact UsIf you have questions or need support with this test, please contact SNTC at sntc@medicine.ufl.edu.

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