Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 environmental contamination in hospital rooms is uncommon using viral culture techniques. (12th January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Warren, Bobby G; Nelson, Alicia; Barrett, Aaron; Addison, Bechtler; Graves, Amanda; Binder, Raquel; Gray, Gregory; Lewis, Sarah; Smith, Becky A; Weber, David J; Sickbert-Bennett, Emily E; Anderson, Deverick J
• Is Part Of: Clinical infectious diseases. Volume 75:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: e307
• Page End: e309
• Publication Date: 2022-01-12
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- environmental contamination -- pandemic -- SARS-CoV-2; Communicable diseases -- Periodicals; 616.905
• DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciac023
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1058-4838

Abstract

Abstract: We assessed environmental contamination of inpatient rooms housing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in a dedicated COVID-19 unit. Contamination with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was found on 5.5% (19/347) of surfaces via reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and 0.3% (1/347) of surfaces via cell culture. Environmental contamination is uncommon in hospitals rooms; RNA presence is not a specific indicator of infectious virus.