Airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling

Reliable methods to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at venues where people gather are essential for epidemiological surveillance to guide public policy. Communal screening of air in a highly crowded space has the potential to provide early warning on the presence and potential transmission of SARS...

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Main Authors: Ang, Alicia X. Y., Luhung, Irvan, Ahidjo, Bintou A., Drautz-Moses, Daniela Isabel, Tambyah, Paul A., Mok, Chee Keng, Lau, Kenny Jia Xu, Tham, Sai Meng, Chu, Justin Jang Hann, Allen, David M., Schuster, Stephan Christoph
Other Authors: Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences and Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/160844
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1608442022-08-03T07:24:41Z Airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling Ang, Alicia X. Y. Luhung, Irvan Ahidjo, Bintou A. Drautz-Moses, Daniela Isabel Tambyah, Paul A. Mok, Chee Keng Lau, Kenny Jia Xu Tham, Sai Meng Chu, Justin Jang Hann Allen, David M. Schuster, Stephan Christoph Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences and Engineering Science::Medicine Communal Testing Environmental Surveillance Reliable methods to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at venues where people gather are essential for epidemiological surveillance to guide public policy. Communal screening of air in a highly crowded space has the potential to provide early warning on the presence and potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2 as suggested by studies early in the epidemic. As hospitals and public facilities apply varying degrees of restrictions and regulations, it is important to provide multiple methodological options to enable environmental SARS-CoV-2 surveillance under different conditions. This study assessed the feasibility of using high-flowrate air samplers combined with RNA extraction kit designed for environmental sample to perform airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital setting, tested by RT-qPCR. The success rate of the air samples in detecting SARS-CoV-2 was then compared with surface swab samples collected in the same proximity. Additionally, positive RT-qPCR samples underwent viral culture to assess the viability of the sampled SARS-CoV-2. The study was performed in inpatient ward environments of a quaternary care university teaching hospital in Singapore housing active COVID-19 patients within the period of February to May 2020. Two types of wards were tested, naturally ventilated open-cohort ward and mechanically ventilated isolation ward. Distances between the site of air sampling and the patient cluster in the investigated wards were also recorded. No successful detection of airborne SARS-CoV-2 was recorded when 50 L/min air samplers were used. Upon increasing the sampling flowrate to 150 L/min, our results showed a high success rate in detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2 from the air samples (72%) compared to the surface swab samples (9.6%). The positive detection rate of the air samples along with the corresponding viral load could be associated with the distance between sampling site and patient. The furthest distance from patient with PCR-positive air samples was 5.5 m. The airborne SARS-CoV-2 detection was comparable between the two types of wards with 60%-87.5% success rate. High prevalence of the virus was found in toilet areas, both on surfaces and in air. Finally, no successful culture attempt was recorded from the environmental air or surface samples. National Medical Research Council (NMRC) An unrestricted educational grant from Freepoint Commodities, Pvt Ltd, Singapore supported the laboratory work, biosafety level 3 procedures and consumables and equipment, manpower, sample collection, and NMRC grant MOH-000411 supported the air samplers, associated consumables, protocol development, and RNA extraction work (PI Stephan Christoph Schuster). Bintou A Ahidjo was supported by NMRC/CG/M009/2017-NUH/NUHS. Chee Keng Mok is supported by NMRC/CG/M009/2017-NUH/NUHS. 2022-08-03T07:24:40Z 2022-08-03T07:24:40Z 2022 Journal Article Ang, A. X. Y., Luhung, I., Ahidjo, B. A., Drautz-Moses, D. I., Tambyah, P. A., Mok, C. K., Lau, K. J. X., Tham, S. M., Chu, J. J. H., Allen, D. M. & Schuster, S. C. (2022). Airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling. Indoor Air, 32(1), e12930-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ina.12930 0905-6947 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/160844 10.1111/ina.12930 34519380 2-s2.0-85114780461 1 32 e12930 en MOH-000411 NMRC/CG/M009/2017-NUH/NUHS Indoor Air © 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Science::Medicine
Communal Testing
Environmental Surveillance
spellingShingle Science::Medicine
Communal Testing
Environmental Surveillance
Ang, Alicia X. Y.
Luhung, Irvan
Ahidjo, Bintou A.
Drautz-Moses, Daniela Isabel
Tambyah, Paul A.
Mok, Chee Keng
Lau, Kenny Jia Xu
Tham, Sai Meng
Chu, Justin Jang Hann
Allen, David M.
Schuster, Stephan Christoph
Airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling
description Reliable methods to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at venues where people gather are essential for epidemiological surveillance to guide public policy. Communal screening of air in a highly crowded space has the potential to provide early warning on the presence and potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2 as suggested by studies early in the epidemic. As hospitals and public facilities apply varying degrees of restrictions and regulations, it is important to provide multiple methodological options to enable environmental SARS-CoV-2 surveillance under different conditions. This study assessed the feasibility of using high-flowrate air samplers combined with RNA extraction kit designed for environmental sample to perform airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital setting, tested by RT-qPCR. The success rate of the air samples in detecting SARS-CoV-2 was then compared with surface swab samples collected in the same proximity. Additionally, positive RT-qPCR samples underwent viral culture to assess the viability of the sampled SARS-CoV-2. The study was performed in inpatient ward environments of a quaternary care university teaching hospital in Singapore housing active COVID-19 patients within the period of February to May 2020. Two types of wards were tested, naturally ventilated open-cohort ward and mechanically ventilated isolation ward. Distances between the site of air sampling and the patient cluster in the investigated wards were also recorded. No successful detection of airborne SARS-CoV-2 was recorded when 50 L/min air samplers were used. Upon increasing the sampling flowrate to 150 L/min, our results showed a high success rate in detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2 from the air samples (72%) compared to the surface swab samples (9.6%). The positive detection rate of the air samples along with the corresponding viral load could be associated with the distance between sampling site and patient. The furthest distance from patient with PCR-positive air samples was 5.5 m. The airborne SARS-CoV-2 detection was comparable between the two types of wards with 60%-87.5% success rate. High prevalence of the virus was found in toilet areas, both on surfaces and in air. Finally, no successful culture attempt was recorded from the environmental air or surface samples.
author2 Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences and Engineering
author_facet Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences and Engineering
Ang, Alicia X. Y.
Luhung, Irvan
Ahidjo, Bintou A.
Drautz-Moses, Daniela Isabel
Tambyah, Paul A.
Mok, Chee Keng
Lau, Kenny Jia Xu
Tham, Sai Meng
Chu, Justin Jang Hann
Allen, David M.
Schuster, Stephan Christoph
format Article
author Ang, Alicia X. Y.
Luhung, Irvan
Ahidjo, Bintou A.
Drautz-Moses, Daniela Isabel
Tambyah, Paul A.
Mok, Chee Keng
Lau, Kenny Jia Xu
Tham, Sai Meng
Chu, Justin Jang Hann
Allen, David M.
Schuster, Stephan Christoph
author_sort Ang, Alicia X. Y.
title Airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling
title_short Airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling
title_full Airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling
title_fullStr Airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling
title_full_unstemmed Airborne SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling
title_sort airborne sars-cov-2 surveillance in hospital environment using high-flowrate air samplers and its comparison to surface sampling
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/160844
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