Department of Infection Control, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Department of Infection Control, Chengdu Public Health Clinical Medical Center, Chengdu, China.
mSphere. 2020 Jun 24;5(3):e00442-20. doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00442-20.
The contamination of patients' surroundings by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains understudied. We sampled the surroundings and the air of six negative-pressure non-intensive care unit (non-ICU) rooms in a designated isolation ward in Chengdu, China, that were occupied by 13 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients who had returned from overseas travel, including 2 asymptomatic patients. A total of 44 of 112 (39.3%) surface samples were positive for SARS-CoV-2 as detected by real-time PCR, suggesting extensive contamination, although all of the air samples were negative. In particular, in a single room occupied by an asymptomatic patient, four sites were SARS-CoV-2 positive, highlighting that asymptomatic COVID-19 patients do contaminate their surroundings and impose risks for others with close contact. Placement of COVID-19 patients in rooms with negative pressure may bring a false feeling of safety, and the importance of rigorous environment cleaning should be emphasized. Although it has been well recognized that the virus SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, can be acquired by exposure to fomites, surprisingly, the contamination of patients' surroundings by SARS-CoV-2 is largely unknown, as there have been few studies. We performed an environmental sampling study for 13 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients and found extensive contamination of patients' surroundings. In particular, we found that asymptomatic COVID-19 patients contaminated their surroundings and therefore imposed risks for other people. Environment cleaning should be emphasized in negative-pressure rooms. The findings may be useful to guide infection control practice to protect health care workers.
新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）污染患者周围环境的情况仍研究不足。我们对中国成都一家指定隔离病房内 6 间负压非重症监护病房（非 ICU）的环境和空气进行了采样，这些病房曾入住过 13 名从海外旅行归来的经实验室确诊的 2019 冠状病毒病（COVID-19）患者，包括 2 名无症状感染者。共有 44 份（39.3%）环境样本在实时 PCR 检测中呈 SARS-CoV-2 阳性，提示存在广泛污染，尽管所有空气样本均为阴性。特别是在一间由无症状感染者居住的病房内，有 4 个地点的 SARS-CoV-2 检测结果呈阳性，这突出表明无症状 COVID-19 患者确实会污染其周围环境，并对与他们有密切接触的人构成风险。将 COVID-19 患者安置在负压病房可能会产生一种虚假的安全感，应强调严格的环境清洁的重要性。虽然人们已经充分认识到，COVID-19 的病原体新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）可通过接触污染物而传播，但令人惊讶的是，SARS-CoV-2 对患者周围环境的污染情况却知之甚少，因为这方面的研究很少。我们对 13 名经实验室确诊的 COVID-19 患者进行了环境采样研究，发现患者周围环境受到了广泛污染。特别是，我们发现无症状 COVID-19 患者会污染其周围环境，因此对其他人构成风险。应在负压病房中强调环境清洁。这些发现可能有助于指导感染控制实践，以保护医护人员的健康。
