One-year monitoring SARS-CoV-2 RNA surface contamination in hospitals reveals no correlation with organic material and negative pressure as a limiting factor for contamination
Marianoel Pereira-Gómez,
Rodrigo Arce,
Diego Ferla,
Diego Simón,
Cecilia Salazar,
Paula Perbolianachis,
Alicia Costábile,
Alvaro Fajardo,
Fabián Aldunate,
Nicolás Nin,
Javier Hurtado,
Gregorio Iraola,
Pilar Moreno,
Gonzalo Moratorio
Affiliations
Marianoel Pereira-Gómez
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Rodrigo Arce
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Diego Ferla
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Diego Simón
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Cecilia Salazar
Laboratorio de Genómica Microbiana, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Centro de Innovación en Vigilancia Epidemiológica, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay
Paula Perbolianachis
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Alicia Costábile
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay; Centro de Innovación en Vigilancia Epidemiológica, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Sección Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Alvaro Fajardo
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Fabián Aldunate
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Nicolás Nin
Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, Hospital Español “Juan José Crottoggini”, Administración de Servicios de Salud del Estado, Uruguay
Javier Hurtado
Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, Hospital Español “Juan José Crottoggini”, Administración de Servicios de Salud del Estado, Uruguay
Gregorio Iraola
Laboratorio de Genómica Microbiana, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Centro de Innovación en Vigilancia Epidemiológica, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay
Pilar Moreno
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay; Centro de Innovación en Vigilancia Epidemiológica, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Corresponding author.Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay.
Gonzalo Moratorio
Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay; Centro de Innovación en Vigilancia Epidemiológica, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay; Corresponding author.Laboratorio de Evolución Experimental de Virus, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay.
Understanding transmission routes of SARS-CoV-2 is crucial to establish effective interventions in healthcare institutions. Although the role of surface contamination in SARS-CoV-2 transmission has been controversial, fomites have been proposed as a contributing factor. Longitudinal studies about SARS-CoV-2 surface contamination in hospitals with different infrastructure (presence or absence of negative pressure systems) are needed to improve our understanding of their effectiveness on patient healthcare and to advance our knowledge about the viral spread.We performed a one-year longitudinal study to evaluate surface contamination with SARS-CoV-2 RNA in reference hospitals. These hospitals have to admit all COVID-19 patients from public health services that require hospitalization. Surfaces samples were molecular tested for SARS-CoV-2 RNA presence considering three factors: the dirtiness by measuring organic material, the circulation of a high transmissibility variant, and the presence or absence of negative pressure systems in hospitalized patients' rooms.Our results show that: (i) There is no correlation between the amount of organic material dirtiness and SARS-CoV-2 RNA detected on surfaces; (ii) SARS-CoV-2 high transmissible Gamma variant introduction significantly increased surface contamination; (iii) the hospital with negative pressure systems was associated with lower levels of SARS-CoV-2 surface contamination and, iv) most environmental samples recovered from contaminated surfaces were assigned as non-infectious.This study provides data gathered for one year about the surface contamination with SARS-CoV-2 RNA sampling hospital settings. Our results suggest that spatial dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 RNA contamination varies according with the type of SARS-CoV-2 genetic variant and the presence of negative pressure systems. In addition, we showed that there is no correlation between the amount of organic material dirtiness and the quantity of viral RNA detected in hospital settings. Our findings suggest that SARS CoV-2 RNA surface contamination monitoring might be useful for the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 dissemination with impact on hospital management and public health policies. This is of special relevance for the Latin-American region where ICU rooms with negative pressure are insufficient.