Journal-based CME Course: Concordance of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Aerosols From a Nurses Station and in Nurses and Patients During a Hospital Ward Outbreak

Activity ID

12705

Expires

June 15, 2025

Format Type

Journal-based

CME Credit

1

Fee

30

CME Provider: JAMA Network Open

Description of CME Course

Importance  Aerosol-borne SARS-CoV-2 has not been linked specifically to nosocomial outbreaks.

Objective  To explore the genomic concordance of SARS-CoV-2 from aerosol particles of various sizes and infected nurses and patients during a nosocomial outbreak of COVID-19.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This cohort study included patients and nursing staff in a US Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient hospital unit and long-term-care facility during a COVID-19 outbreak between December 27, 2020, and January 8, 2021. Outbreak contact tracing was conducted using exposure histories and screening with reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2. Size-selective particle samplers were deployed in diverse clinical areas of a multicampus health care system from November 2020 to March 2021. Viral genomic sequences from infected nurses and patients were sequenced and compared with ward nurses station aerosol samples.

Exposure  SARS-CoV-2.

Main Outcomes and Measures  The primary outcome was positive RT-PCR results and genomic similarity between SARS-CoV-2 RNA in aerosols and human samples. Air samplers were used to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in aerosols on hospital units where health care personnel were or were not under routine surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Results  A total of 510 size-fractionated air particle samples were collected. Samples representing 3 size fractions (>10 μm, 2.5-10 μm, and <2.5 μm) obtained at the nurses station were positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the outbreak (3 of 30 samples [10%]) and negative during 9 other collection periods. SARS-CoV-2 partial genome sequences for the smallest particle fraction were 100% identical with all 3 human samples; the remaining size fractions shared >99.9% sequence identity with the human samples. Fragments of SARS-CoV-2 RNA were detected by RT-PCR in 24 of 270 samples (8.9%) in units where health care personnel were not under surveillance and 7 of 240 samples (2.9%; P = .005) where they were under surveillance.

Conclusions and Relevance  In this cohort study, the finding of genetically identical SARS-CoV-2 RNA fragments in aerosols obtained from a nurses station and in human samples during a nosocomial outbreak suggests that aerosols may have contributed to hospital transmission. Surveillance, along with ventilation, masking, and distancing, may reduce the introduction of community-acquired SARS-CoV-2 into aerosols on hospital wards, thereby reducing the risk of hospital transmission.

Disclaimers

1. This activity is accredited by the American Medical Association.
2. This activity is free to AMA members.

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