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Evaluation of Hospital Floors as a Potential Source of Pathogen Dissemination Using a Nonpathogenic Virus as a Surrogate Marker

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2016

Sreelatha Koganti ,
Heba Alhmidi ,
Myreen E. Tomas ,
Jennifer L. Cadnum ,
Annette Jencson  and
Curtis J. Donskey
Sreelatha Koganti
Affiliation:
Research Service, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Heba Alhmidi
Affiliation:
Research Service, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Myreen E. Tomas
Affiliation:
Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Jennifer L. Cadnum
Affiliation:
Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Annette Jencson
Affiliation:
Research Service, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Curtis J. Donskey*
Affiliation:
Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio
*
Address correspondence to Curtis J. Donskey, MD, Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 10701 East Blvd, Cleveland, OH 44106 (curtisd123@yahoo.com).
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Abstract

Hospital floors are frequently contaminated with pathogens, but it is not known whether floors are a potential source of transmission. We demonstrated that a nonpathogenic virus inoculated onto floors in hospital rooms disseminated rapidly to the hands of patients and to high-touch surfaces inside and outside the room.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;1–4

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 37 , Issue 11 , November 2016 , pp. 1374 - 1377
Copyright
© 2016 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

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References

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