Environmental surface and air contamination in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) patient rooms by disease severity

Infection Prevention in Practice

Shinichiro Morioka¹  Mugen Ujiie²  Tetsuya Suzuki³  Satoshi Kutsuna⁴  Noriko Kinoshita⁵  Yuko Sugiki⁵  Masayuki Ota⁶  Yuki Moriyama⁶  Kayoko Hayakawa⁶  Kohei Kanda⁶  Kei Yamamoto⁶  Satoshi Ide⁶  Yusuke Miyazato⁶  Shun Iida⁶  Keiji Nakamura⁶  Tadaki Suzuki⁶  Yutaro Akiyama⁶  Masahiro Ishikane⁶  Sho Saito⁶  Norio Ohmagari⁶  Ayako Okuhama⁶  Takato Nakamoto⁶  Hidetoshi Nomoto⁶  Yuji Wakimoto⁷ 

[1] Corresponding author. Address: 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan. Tel.: [phone];Department of Nursing, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan;Division of Infectious Diseases Pathology, Department of Global Infectious Diseases, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Miyagi, Japan;fax: [phone].;Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan;Disease Control and Prevention Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan;Infection Control Team, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan;

关键词: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2;    Environment;    Contamination;    Hospital;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Summary:Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread around the world. In addition to community-acquired infections, nosocomial infections are also a major social concern. The likelihood of environmental contamination and transmission of the virus based on disease severity is unknown. Methods: We collected nasopharyngeal, environmental and air samples from patients with COVID-19 admitted to the National Centre for Global Health and Medicine between January 29th and February 29th, 2020. The patients were classified by severity of disease. The collected samples were tested using severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR). Results: SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in a subset of 11 air samples. Of the 141 environmental samples collected from three patient bays and two single rooms, four samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by real-time RT-PCR. Detections were made on the surface of a stethoscope used in the care of a patient with severe disease, on the intubation tube of a patient classified as critical (and on ventilator management), and on the surface of a gown worn by the nurse providing care. Conclusions: Regardless of the patients' disease severity, SARS-CoV-2 was detected on very few environmental surfaces. However, detection of SARS-CoV-2 on stethoscopes used in the care of multiple patients and on the surface of gowns worn by clinical staff indicates that medical devices may be linked to the spread of infection.

【 授权许可】

Unknown