Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Dec 15:748:141324.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141324. Epub 2020 Jul 29.

Hospital indoor air quality monitoring for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus

Azra Kenarkoohi  1 , Zahra Noorimotlagh  2 , Shahab Falahi  3 , Ali Amarloei  4 , Seyyed Abbas Mirzaee  5 , Iraj Pakzad  1 , Elham Bastani  6
Affiliations

Hospital indoor air quality monitoring for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus

Azra Kenarkoohi et al. Sci Total Environ. .

Abstract

On December 31, 2019, the novel human coronavirus (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, China and swiftly spread in all nations and territories around the globe. There is much debate about the major route of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmissions. So, more evidence is required to determine the potential pathway of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 including airborne transmission. Therefore, we examined the potential aerosol transmission of the virus through hospital wards indoor air by confirmed COVID-19 patients on May 7, 2020. In order to capture airborne SARS-CoV-2, the liquid impinger biosampler was used to take fourteen air samples in different wards of the indoor air of the hospital. The specific primer and probe real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were applied to detect viral genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in positive air samples. Accordingly, we found two positive air samples (in the ICU) out of 14 ones taken from different wards with confirmed COVID-19 patients. The results revealed the possibility of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 though more studies are required to determine the role of actual mechanisms such as cough, sneeze, normal breathing and speaking in the emission of airborne size carrier aerosols. Likewise, more quantitative analyses are needed to estimate airborne viability of SARS-CoV-2 in the carrier aerosols.

Keywords: COVID-19; Hospital; Indoor air quality; SARS-CoV-2; Viral air quality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Unlabelled Image
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The locations of air samples (formula image) and confirmed COVID-19 patients' beds (formula image) for detection of SARS-COV-2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. (CDC), C. F. D. C. A. P . Interim Recommendations for U.S. Households With Suspected or Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Division of Viral Diseases; 2020. Cleaning and disinfection for households. May 13.
    1. (WHO), W. H. O . 2020. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Situation Report– 108, Data as Received by WHO From National Authorities by 10:00 CEST, 7 May 2020.
    1. (WHO), W. H. O . vol. 3. 2020. WHO Characterizes COVID-19 as a Pandemic.
    1. Amarloei A., Fazlzadeh M., Jafari A.J., Zarei A., Mazloomi S. Particulate matters and bioaerosols during Middle East dust storms events in Ilam, Iran. Microchem. J. 2020;152
    1. Faridi S., Niazi S., Sadeghi K., Naddafi K., Yavarian J., Shamsipour M., Jandaghi N.Z.S., Sadeghniiat K., Nabizadeh R., Yunesian M. A field indoor air measurement of SARS-CoV-2 in the patient rooms of the largest hospital in Iran. Sci. Total Environ. 2020;725 - PMC - PubMed