Sick Building Syndrome: Do you have any of these symptoms?

SHAH ALAM - Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) has been recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a condition where a person, who is in a building, having symptoms and feeling of uncomfortableness without any transparent causation.

Health Ministry on its website stated some common symptoms of the syndrome are headaches, eye irritation, malaise, difficulties breathing and itchiness of the skin especially when the person is inside the building.

It said the main contributor to SBS is abysmal Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). However, they were various other factors that contribute to this illness.

Among them includes building materials, bad building sanitisation, ozone, badly maintained air condition system, outside or inside pollution and existence of mould, bacteria, fungus, dust and mites.

Improper maintenance of the building which accumulates to fibre dust, poor lighting, vermin infestation as well as environmental factors such as carbon monoxide, temperature, humidity and voice has also been listed as major factors causing BSB.

The Health Ministry divided symptoms of the syndrome into three groups; Group A for symptoms such as headache, lethargy nausea and dizziness; Group B for congestion, swollen, irritation (eyes, nose, throat) and sub-clinical syndromes like headache, fatigue and nausea, and lastly, Group C for symptoms such as coughing, short of breath, fever after entering the building and diagnosed infection.