Contamination of Hospital Surfaces with Bacterial Pathogens under the Current COVID-19 Outbreak

Andrei A. Pochtovyi, Daria V. Vasina, Daria D. Kustova, Elizaveta V. Divisenko, Nadezhda A. Kuznetsova, Olga A. Burgasova, Ludmila V. Kolobukhina, Artem P. Tkachuk, Vladimir A. Gushchin and Alexander L. Gintsburg
Additional contact information
Andrei A. Pochtovyi: Federal State Budget Institution “National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after Honorary Academician N F Gamaleya” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Daria V. Vasina: Federal State Budget Institution “National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after Honorary Academician N F Gamaleya” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Daria D. Kustova: Department of Virology, Biological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Elizaveta V. Divisenko: Federal State Budget Institution “National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after Honorary Academician N F Gamaleya” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Nadezhda A. Kuznetsova: Federal State Budget Institution “National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after Honorary Academician N F Gamaleya” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Olga A. Burgasova: Department of Infectious Diseases, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), 117198 Moscow, Russia
Ludmila V. Kolobukhina: Federal State Budget Institution “National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after Honorary Academician N F Gamaleya” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Artem P. Tkachuk: Federal State Budget Institution “National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after Honorary Academician N F Gamaleya” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Vladimir A. Gushchin: Federal State Budget Institution “National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after Honorary Academician N F Gamaleya” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123098 Moscow, Russia
Alexander L. Gintsburg: Federal State Budget Institution “National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Named after Honorary Academician N F Gamaleya” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 123098 Moscow, Russia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-13

Abstract: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic remains a global health issue for several reasons, such as the low vaccination rates and a lack of developed herd immunity to the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, as well as its potential inclination to elude neutralizing antibodies. It should be noted that the severity of the COVID-19 disease is significantly affected by the presence of co-infections. Comorbid conditions are caused not only by pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms but also by some representatives of the environmental microbiome. The presence of patients with moderate and severe forms of the disease in hospitals indicates the need for epidemiological monitoring of (1) bacterial pathogens circulating in hospitals, especially the ESKAPE group pathogens, and (2) the microbiome of various surfaces in hospitals. In our study, we used combined methods based on PCR and NGS sequencing, which are widely used for epidemiological monitoring. Through this approach, we identified the DNA of pathogenic bacteria ( Klebsiella pneumoniae , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Staphylococcus aureus , CoNS, and Achromobacter spp.) on various surfaces. We also estimated the microbiome diversity of surfaces and identified the potential reservoirs of infections using 16S rRNA profiling. Although we did not assess the viability of identified microorganisms, our results indicate the possible risks of insufficient regular disinfection of surfaces, regardless of department, at the Infectious Diseases Hospital. Controlling the transmission of nosocomial diseases is critical to the successful treatment of COVID-19 patients, the rational use of antimicrobial drugs, and timely decontamination measures.

Keywords: surface contamination; hospital infection; microbiome; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/9042/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/9042/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:17:p:9042-:d:623291

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().