IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v11y2020i1d10.1038_s41467-020-16670-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Detection of air and surface contamination by SARS-CoV-2 in hospital rooms of infected patients

Author

Listed:
  • Po Ying Chia

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital
    Nanyang Technological University)

  • Kristen Kelli Coleman

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Yian Kim Tan

    (DSO National Laboratories)

  • Sean Wei Xiang Ong

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital)

  • Marcus Gum

    (DSO National Laboratories)

  • Sok Kiang Lau

    (DSO National Laboratories)

  • Xiao Fang Lim

    (DSO National Laboratories)

  • Ai Sim Lim

    (DSO National Laboratories)

  • Stephanie Sutjipto

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital)

  • Pei Hua Lee

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital)

  • Than The Son

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Barnaby Edward Young

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital
    Nanyang Technological University)

  • Donald K. Milton

    (University of Maryland School of Public Health)

  • Gregory C. Gray

    (National University of Singapore
    Duke University
    Duke Kunshan University)

  • Stephan Schuster

    (Nanyang Technological University)

  • Timothy Barkham

    (Tan Tock Seng Hospital
    National University of Singapore)

  • Partha Pratim De

    (Tan Tock Seng Hospital
    Nanyang Technological University)

  • Shawn Vasoo

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital
    Nanyang Technological University)

  • Monica Chan

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital)

  • Brenda Sze Peng Ang

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital
    Nanyang Technological University
    National University of Singapore)

  • Boon Huan Tan

    (DSO National Laboratories)

  • Yee-Sin Leo

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital
    Nanyang Technological University
    National University of Singapore)

  • Oon-Tek Ng

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital
    Nanyang Technological University)

  • Michelle Su Yen Wong

    (DSO National Laboratories)

  • Kalisvar Marimuthu

    (National Centre for Infectious Diseases
    Tan Tock Seng Hospital
    National University of Singapore)

Abstract

Understanding the particle size distribution in the air and patterns of environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 is essential for infection prevention policies. Here we screen surface and air samples from hospital rooms of COVID-19 patients for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Environmental sampling is conducted in three airborne infection isolation rooms (AIIRs) in the ICU and 27 AIIRs in the general ward. 245 surface samples are collected. 56.7% of rooms have at least one environmental surface contaminated. High touch surface contamination is shown in ten (66.7%) out of 15 patients in the first week of illness, and three (20%) beyond the first week of illness (p = 0.01, χ2 test). Air sampling is performed in three of the 27 AIIRs in the general ward, and detects SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive particles of sizes >4 µm and 1–4 µm in two rooms, despite these rooms having 12 air changes per hour. This warrants further study of the airborne transmission potential of SARS-CoV-2.

Suggested Citation

  • Po Ying Chia & Kristen Kelli Coleman & Yian Kim Tan & Sean Wei Xiang Ong & Marcus Gum & Sok Kiang Lau & Xiao Fang Lim & Ai Sim Lim & Stephanie Sutjipto & Pei Hua Lee & Than The Son & Barnaby Edward Yo, 2020. "Detection of air and surface contamination by SARS-CoV-2 in hospital rooms of infected patients," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-16670-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16670-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16670-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-020-16670-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marcelo I. Guzman, 2021. "An overview of the effect of bioaerosol size in coronavirus disease 2019 transmission," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 257-266, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-16670-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.