ArticleThe Journal of hospital infection2022
Environmental SARS-CoV-2 contamination in hospital rooms of patients with acute COVID-19.
Article in The Journal of hospital infection, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Viral cultures for assessing airborne infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 shedding in exhaled material: a systematic review.Epidemiology and infection · 2025Pooled it
- Integrated monitoring of enveloped viruses in hospital environments: Detection, persistence, and implications for infection control.PloS one · 2026Article
- Comparative Assessment of Viral Load Retention in Surgical and Fabric Masks Worn by COVID-19 Patients.Viruses · 2025Article
- Article
- Severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA and viable virus contamination of hospital emergency department surfaces and association with patient coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) status and aerosol-generating procedures.Infection control and hospital epidemiology · 2024Article
- Research progress on environmental stability of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Review
- Effect of Face Masking on Transmission of SARS-CoV-2.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Article
- Ultraviolet-C-Based Mobile Phone Sanitisation for Global Public Health and Infection Control.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- Spread of viruses, which measures are the most apt to control COVID-19?Infectious diseases now · 2023Review
- Environmental Contamination of SARS-CoV-2 Delta VOC by COVID-19 Patients Staying in the Hospital for More Than Two Weeks.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2023Article
- Monitoring Prevalence and Persistence of Environmental Contamination by SARS-CoV-2 RNA in a Makeshift Hospital for Asymptomatic and Very Mild COVID-19 Patients.International journal of public health · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 indoor environment contamination with epidemiological and experimental investigations.Indoor air · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveData on the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) remain conflicting. Airborne transmission is still debated. However, hospital risk control requires better understanding of the different modes of transmission. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of, and factors associated with, environmental air and surface contamination in the rooms of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 in the acute phase of the disease.
methodsSixty-five consecutive patients were included in this study. For each patient, seven room surfaces, air 1 m and 3 m from the patient's head, the inner surface of the patient's mask, and the outer surface of healthcare workers' (HCW) masks were sampled. Environmental contamination was assessed by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for SARS-CoV-2 RNA on surfaces, air and masks. A viral isolation test was performed on Vero cells for samples with an RT-qPCR cycle threshold (Ct) ≤37.
resultsSARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected by RT-qPCR in 34%, 12%, 50% and 10% of surface, air, patient mask and HCW mask samples, respectively. Infectious virus was isolated in culture from two samples among the 85 positive samples with Ct ≤37. On multi-variate analysis, only a positive result for SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR for patients' face masks was found to be significantly associated with surface contamination (odds ratio 5.79, 95% confidence interval 1.31-25.67; P=0.025).
conclusionThis study found that surface contamination by SARS-CoV-2 was more common than air and mask contamination. However, viable virus was rare. The inner surface of a patient's mask could be used as a marker to identify those at higher risk of contamination.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.