Confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 airborne dissemination indoors using “COVID-19 traps” - 02/03/22
Highlights |
• | COVID-19 airborne dissemination is gaining importance as a route of transmission. |
• | The usefulness of “COVID traps” to detect SARS-CoV-2 aerosol dissemination has been confirmed after a pilot study. |
• | More than 30% out of 180 samples analyzed were positive for COVID-19 airborne dissemination. |
• | SARS-CoV-2 stability in methacrylate has been demonstrated, so it could be interesting to limit its use in hospitals. |
• | Patients’ viral load has been confirmed as a key parameter for SARS-CoV-2 dissemination. |
Understanding the capacity of SARS-CoV-2 virus to infect by surfaces and by airborne dissemination has become in one of the most important issues in the world nowadays. Thus, the aim of this study was to confirm aerosol dissemination from patients with coronavirus infection using “COVID-19 traps” that included different untouched surfaces within them. In a previous study, we evaluated the presence of the virus and its stability in 6 different surfaces placed in the rooms of 6 patients with a positive diagnostic of COVID-19. For that, we performed a case series study with 180 samples collected from the surfaces included into the “COVID-19 traps” located in the rooms of patients in a COVID-19 ward unit (CWU) at a Spanish referral hospital at 24, 48 and 72 h. RNA was extracted from the surfaces with a swab and subsequently analyzed with RT-PCR to evaluate the presence of the virus and its stability. Positives were found in almost all the rooms and at all analyzed times. Surfaces could not be touched by patients or health workers, so viral spreading was unequivocally produced by airborne. In addition, ROC curves were performed to corroborate that airborne dissemination was directly associated with patients’ viral load. Thus, aerosol dissemination and patients’ viral load were confirmed as key parameters for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our results point the importance of SARS-CoV-2 virus airborne dissemination indoors and may shed some light in this debate.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Graphical abstract |
Abbreviations : CWU, E, HVAC, N, PP, RdRP, RT-PCR, SARS-CoV-2, VTM
Keywords : SARS-CoV-2, Aerosol dissemination, Untouched surfaces, RT-PCR, COVID-19 traps
Plan
Vol 84 - N° 3
P. 343-350 - mars 2022 Retour au numéroBienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.