TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare premises
AU - Ye, Guangming
AU - Lin, Hualiang
AU - Chen, Song
AU - Wang, Shichan
AU - Zeng, Zhikun
AU - Wang, Wei
AU - Zhang, Shiyu
AU - Rebmann, Terri
AU - Li, Yirong
AU - Pan, Zhenyu
AU - Yang, Zhonghua
AU - Wang, Ying
AU - Wang, Fubing
AU - Qian, Zhengmin
AU - Wang, Xinghuan
N1 - Funding Information:
The work was supported by the Emergency Science and Technology Project from the Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province, China (2020FCA008).
Funding Information:
The work was supported by the Emergency Science and Technology Project from the Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province, China (2020FCA008). The funder had no role in the investigation, including the study design; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; development of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. We wanted to express our highest appreciation to our staff who risked their lives collecting the large number of samples needed to conduct this study. We also thank the nurses and doctors in Zhongnan Medical Center for their support and assistance for collecting the samples.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2020/8
Y1 - 2020/8
N2 - Objectives: A large number of healthcare workers (HCWs) were infected by SARS-CoV-2 during the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Hospitals are significant epicenters for the human-to-human transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 for HCWs, patients, and visitors. No data has been reported on the details of hospital environmental contamination status in the epicenter of Wuhan. Methods: We collected 626 surface swabs within the Zhongnan Medical Center in Wuhan in the mist of the COVID-19 outbreak between February 7 - February 27, 2020. Dacron swabs were aseptically collected from the surfaces of 13 hospital function zones, five major objects, and three major PPE. The SARS-CoV-2 RNAs were detected by reverse transcription-PCR. Results: The most contaminated zones were the intensive care unit specialized for taking care of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) (31.9%), Obstetric Isolation Ward specialized for pregnant women with NCP (28.1%), and Isolation Ward for NCP (19.6%). We classified the 13 zones into four contamination levels. The most contaminated objects were self-service printers (20.0%), desktop/keyboard (16.8%), and doorknob (16.0%). Both hand sanitizer dispensers (20.3%) and gloves (15.4%) were the most contaminated PPE. Conclusion: Our findings emphasize the urgent need to ensure adequate environmental cleaning, strengthen infection prevention training, and improve infection prevention among HCWs during the outbreak of COVID-19.
AB - Objectives: A large number of healthcare workers (HCWs) were infected by SARS-CoV-2 during the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Hospitals are significant epicenters for the human-to-human transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 for HCWs, patients, and visitors. No data has been reported on the details of hospital environmental contamination status in the epicenter of Wuhan. Methods: We collected 626 surface swabs within the Zhongnan Medical Center in Wuhan in the mist of the COVID-19 outbreak between February 7 - February 27, 2020. Dacron swabs were aseptically collected from the surfaces of 13 hospital function zones, five major objects, and three major PPE. The SARS-CoV-2 RNAs were detected by reverse transcription-PCR. Results: The most contaminated zones were the intensive care unit specialized for taking care of novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) (31.9%), Obstetric Isolation Ward specialized for pregnant women with NCP (28.1%), and Isolation Ward for NCP (19.6%). We classified the 13 zones into four contamination levels. The most contaminated objects were self-service printers (20.0%), desktop/keyboard (16.8%), and doorknob (16.0%). Both hand sanitizer dispensers (20.3%) and gloves (15.4%) were the most contaminated PPE. Conclusion: Our findings emphasize the urgent need to ensure adequate environmental cleaning, strengthen infection prevention training, and improve infection prevention among HCWs during the outbreak of COVID-19.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085749839&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85085749839&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.04.034
DO - 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.04.034
M3 - Article
C2 - 32360881
AN - SCOPUS:85085749839
SN - 0163-4453
VL - 81
SP - e1-e5
JO - Journal of Infection
JF - Journal of Infection
IS - 2
ER -