Detection of Sars-Cov-2 in the air of two hospitals in Hermosillo, Sonora, México, utilizing a low-cost environmental monitoring system
- Authors
- Type
- Published Article
- Journal
- International Journal of Infectious Diseases
- Publisher
- The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases.
- Publication Date
- Nov 03, 2020
- Volume
- 102
- Pages
- 478–482
- Identifiers
- DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.10.089
- PMID: 33157295
- PMCID: PMC7607259
- Source
- PubMed Central
- Keywords
- License
- Unknown
Abstract
Objective The best way of preventing the dispersion of an infectious disease is decreasing the transmissibility of the pathogen. To achieve such a goal, it is important to have epidemiological surveillance to retrieve data about its routes of transmission and dispersion. This study investigated the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 detection using filtration through 0.22 μm pores. Methods A filtration system with vacuum pump was used for sampling, and molecular analysis was performed by RT-PCR for detecting the COVID-19 virus. Results It was found that SARS-CoV-2 could be detected in particulate matter trapped on 0.22 μm filters 3 h after air sampling, and the only contaminated areas were those near patient zones. Conclusions The results confirm the possibility of finding this virus in floating particulate matter in contaminated zones, with a simple and economic sampling method based on filtration technology through 0.22 μm pores and detection with molecular techniques (RT-PCR). The higher risk zones were those near patients with COVID-19.
