Viral contamination on the surfaces of the personal protective equipment among health care professionals working in COVID-19 wards: A single-center prospective, observational study.
Am J Infect Control
; 2022 Nov 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2276102
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate potential viral contamination on the surfaces of personal protective equipment (PPE) in COVID-19 wards.METHODS:
Face shields, gloves, the chest area of PPE and shoe soles were sampled at different time points. The samples were tested for the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by PCR, and the cycle threshold (CT) values were recorded.RESULTS:
The positive rate was 74.7% (239/320) for all PPE specimens. The CT values of the samples were ranked in the following order face shields > chests > gloves > shoe soles (37.08±1.38, 35.48±2.02, 34.17±1.91 and 33.52±3.16, respectively; P for trend < .001). After disinfection, the CT values of shoe soles decreased compared with before disinfection (32.78±3.47 vs. 34.3±2.61, P = .037), whereas no significant effect of disinfection on the CT values of face shields, chests and gloves was observed. After disinfection, the CT values of specimens collected from shoe soles gradually increased; before disinfection, the CT values of shoe sole specimens were all less than 35.CONCLUSIONS:
SARS-CoV-2 can attach to the surfaces of the PPE of healthcare professionals in COVID-19 wards, especially the shoe soles and undisinfected gloves. Shoe soles had the highest SARS-CoV-2 loads among all tested PPE items.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.ajic.2022.10.017
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