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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2022

Detection and isolation of airborne SARS-CoV-2 in a hospital setting

de Sousa, Nuno Rufino; Steponaviciute, Laura; Margerie, Lucille; Nissen, Karolina; Kjellin, Midori; Reinius, Bjorn; Salaneck, Erik; Udekwu, Klas, I; Rothfuchs, Antonio Gigliotti

Abstract

Transmission mechanisms for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are incompletely understood. In particular, aerosol transmission remains unclear, with viral detection in air and demonstration of its infection potential being actively investigated. To this end, we employed a novel electrostatic collector to sample air from rooms occupied by COVID-19 patients in a major Swedish hospital. Electrostatic air sampling in conjunction with extraction-free, reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (hid-RT-PCR) enabled detection of SARS-CoV-2 in air from patient rooms (9/22; 41%) and adjoining anterooms (10/22; 45%). Detection with hid-RT-PCR was concomitant with viral RNA presence on the surface of exhaust ventilation channels in patients and anterooms more than 2 m from the COVID-19 patient. Importantly, it was possible to detect active SARS-CoV-2 particles from room air, with a total of 496 plaque-forming units (PFUs) being isolated, establishing the presence of infectious, airborne SARS-CoV-2 in rooms occupied by COVID-19 patients. Our results support circulation of SARS-CoV-2 via aerosols and urge the revision of existing infection control frameworks to include airborne transmission.

Keywords

environmental sampling; health care; infectious aerosols; pathogen detection; SARS-CoV-2; transmission

Published in

Indoor Air
2022, Volume: 32, number: 3, article number: e13023
Publisher: WILEY

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Environmental Health and Occupational Health

    More information

    Correction in: Indoor Air, 2022, Volume: 32, Issue: 3, article number: e13085, DOI: 10.1111/ina.13085

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.13023

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/116747