[Pesticides as chemical indoor pollution and persistence in the hospital as an example in long term and short term studies].

It is because of combined hygienic, ecological, commercial and psychological aspects that controlling public health pests in the hospital becomes a complex problem area in which dubious practices and philosophies have had a tradition for decades. These include harmlessness assumptions considered as a carte blanche, ignoring the biological peculiarities of the species controlled, payment for consumption of chemicals or area controlled rather than for efficiency of control, and a contract policy between the pest control contractor and the hospital governed by a profit-oriented control frequency rather than by the actual infestation. Thus, the hospital environment has often experienced an unnecessarily high exposure to toxic and, in part, persistent substances which can adversely affect the chemical indoor situation in acute terms or on a long-term basis, and may give rise to sustained problems. Exposure and residues were determined to provide evidence of the acute risk to health after control measures using dichlorvos, as well as long persisting exposure as typically demonstrated for DDT. The conclusions drawn so as to minimise the risk of indoor pest control in the hospital are presented.