[Sanitary impact of air conditioning: what is the relation to sick building syndrome?]

Modern architecture is creating air-conditioned offices in our society. Various diseases have been associated with conditioned air exposure, and building-related diseases are distinct from sick building syndrome (SBS). Building-related diseases have a well-characterized aetiology, essentially infectious, compared to SBS, where the aetiology is not clear. This paper reviews these syndromes, their aetiologies and their discussion in order to treat and prevent their expression. Progress has been made in the conception of air-conditioning systems. Prevention of these syndromes is based on conception and cleaning of these systems, which allows the use of air-conditioning without any major sanitary problem.