New Research: A new study completed by UC (University of California) researchers confirms there is low likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 contamination on hospital surfaces is infectious. The study was published on June 24 in PLOS ONE and carried out at UC Davis Medical Center. Angela Haczku, a respiratory immunologist and senior author on the study stated that our group was the 1st to recognize that SARS-CoV-2 virus sequences could be understood from environmental swabs collected from hospital surfaces.
Last year in April, following a COVID-19 outbreak amongst hospital employees, an interdisciplinary group began investigating if there was virus contamination in the often utilized surfaces of hospitals/ health-related facilities such as ICU and employees meeting locations at UC Davis Medical Center. At that time the part of surfaces spreading the virus drew consideration of several men and women which includes the researchers and scientists. They began collecting numerous samples for the duration of the 1st (April 2020) and the second (August 2020) waves of COVID from surfaces and also from the HVAC filters in the hospital. The researchers analysed the swabs taken from the surfaces for SARS-CoV-2 RNA to verify infectivity. It also assessed the suitability of the RNA for sequencing.
Despite a substantial boost in COVID-19 circumstances amongst hospital patients for the duration of the second wave, the group found that only 2 per cent of the swabs collected tested positive in August. Whereas 11 per cent of the swabs tested positive for the duration of the 1st wave in April very same year.
Improved ICU patient management and strictly following cleaning protocols inside the hospital has helped in considerably decreasing the virus contamination, stated Haczku, professor of medicine, director at the UC Davis Lung Center.
Lessons from genome sequencing
The study showed that by genome sequencing, SARS-CoV-2 could even be detected from samples that otherwise had been undetectable by applying other frequent procedures of testing such as PCR tests. The outcome also demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 RNA even right after collecting from a surface was not infectious. The study supports the hypothesis that contaminated surfaces might not be a key purpose of spreading COVID-19 illness.
According to David Coil, project scientist and 1st author, at the UC Davis Genome Center, genome sequencing completed on the hospital surface by collecting swab samples was incredibly crucial. With the support of correct viral genomic sequences, the researchers could realize infection behavior– how an infection moves.
The study was funded by a UC Davis CRAFT Award and The Chester Robbins Endowment.