Detection of SARS-CoV-2 genome in the air, surfaces, and wastewater of the referral hospitals, Gorgan, north of Iran
-
Farzad Ramezani Ziarani
,
Alireza Tahamtan
,
Hasan Safari
,
Alijan Tabarraei
,
Yousef Dadban Shahamat
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic caused by the novel virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Knowing the virus's behavior and its persistence in different environments are crucial and will lead to the proper management of the disease. In this study, air, surface, and sewage samples were taken from different parts of referral hospitals for COVID-19.
Materials and Methods: Air samples were taken with impinger, surface samples with swabs, and sewage samples were taken from the hospital wastewater treatment plant. After viral genome extraction, a real-time RT-PCR test was applied to confirm the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the collected samples.
Results: The virus genome could be traced in the wards and wastewater related to hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Overally, 29%, 16%, and 37.5% of air, surface, and sewage samples were positive for the SARS-CoV-2 genome, respectively.
Conclusion: Findings of such studies provide valuable results regarding the degree of contamination of hospital environments and the risk of virus transmission in different environments and among hospital staff and patients.
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2. Ayatollahi AA, Aghcheli B, Amini A, Nikbakht H, Ghassemzadehpirsala P, Behboudi E, et al. Association between blood groups and COVID-19 outcome in Iranian patients. Future Virol 2021. 10.2217/fvl-2021-0090.
3. Teymoori-Rad M, Samadizadeh S, Tabarraei A, Moradi A, Shahbaz MB, Tahamtan A. Ten challenging questions about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Expert Rev Respir Med 2020; 14: 881-888.
4. Lauer SA, Grantz KH, Bi Q, Jones FK, Zheng Q, Meredith HR, et al. The incubation period of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from publicly reported confirmed cases: estimation and application. Ann Intern Med 2020; 172: 577-582.
5. Li H, Wang Y, Ji M, Pei F, Zhao Q, Zhou Y, et al. Transmission routes analysis of SARS-CoV-2: a systematic review and case report. Front Cell Dev Biol 2020; 8: 618.
6. Chan JF, Yuan S, Kok KH, To KK, Chu H, Yang J, et al. A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster. Lancet 2020; 395: 514-523.
7. Singhal T. A review of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Indian J Pediatr 2020; 87: 281-286.
8. Van Doremalen N, Bushmaker T, Morris DH, Holbrook MG, Gamble A, Williamson BN, et al. Aerosol and surface stability of SARS-CoV-2 as compared with SARS-CoV-1. N Engl J Med 2020; 382: 1564-1567.
9. Verreault D, Moineau S, Duchaine C. Methods for sampling of airborne viruses. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 2008; 72: 413-444.
10. Faridi S, Niazi S, Sadeghi K, Naddafi K, Yavarian J, Shamsipour M, et al. A field indoor air measurement of SARS-CoV-2 in the patient rooms of the largest hospital in Iran. Sci Total Environ 2020; 725: 138401.
11. World Health Organization. Surface sampling of coronavirus disease (COVID-19): a practical “how to” protocol for health care and public health professionals. 2020. WHO/2019-nCoV/Environment_protocol/2020.1
12. Alexander MR, Rootes CL, van Vuren PJ, Stewart CR. Concentration of infectious SARS-CoV-2 by polyethylene glycol precipitation. J Virol Methods 2020; 286: 113977.
13. Mahapatra S, Chandra P. Clinically practiced and commercially viable nanobio engineered analytical methods for COVID-19 diagnosis. Biosens Bioelectron 2020; 165: 112361.
14. Tahamtan A, Ardebili A. Real-time RT-PCR in COVID-19 detection: issues affecting the results. Expert Rev Mol Diagn 2020; 20: 453-454.
15. Vosoughi M, Karami C, Dargahi A, Jeddi F, Jalali KM, Hadisi A, et al. Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 in hospital indoor air of COVID-19 patients' ward with impinger method. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2021; 28: 50480-50488.
16. Kenarkoohi A, Noorimotlagh Z, Falahi S, Amarloei A, Mirzaee SA, Pakzad I, et al. Hospital indoor air quality monitoring for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus. Sci Total Environ 2020; 748: 141324.
17. Lednicky JA, Lauzard M, Fan ZH, Jutla A, Tilly TB, Gangwar M, et al. Viable SARS-CoV-2 in the air of a hospital room with COVID-19 patients. Int J Infect Dis 2020; 100: 476-482.
18. Aytogan H, Ayintap E, ÖzkalayYilmaz N. Detection of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Viral Material on Environmental Surfaces of an Ophthalmology Examination Room. JAMA Ophthalmol 2020; 138: 990-993.
19. Pasquarella C, Colucci ME, Bizzarro A, Veronesi L, Affanni P, Meschi T, et al. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 on hospital surfaces. Acta Biomed 2020; 91: 76-78.
20. Razzini K, Castrica M, Menchetti L, Maggi L, Negroni L, Orfeo NV, et al. SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in the air and on surfaces in the COVID-19 ward of a hospital in Milan, Italy. Sci Total Environ 2020; 742: 140540.
21. Harvey AP, Fuhrmeister ER, Cantrell ME, Pitol AK, Swarthout JM, Powers JE, et al. Longitudinal monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on high-touch surfaces in a community setting. Environ Sci Technol Lett 2021; 8: 168-175.
22. Van Doorn AS, Meijer B, Frampton CMA, Barclay ML, de Boer NKH. Systematic review with meta-analysis: SARS-CoV-2 stool testing and the potential for faecal-oral transmission. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2020; 52: 1276-1288.
23. Jones DL, Baluja MQ, Graham DW, Corbishley A, McDonald JE, Malham SK, et al. Shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in feces and urine and its potential role in person-to-person transmission and the environment-based spread of COVID-19. Sci Total Environ 2020; 749: 141364.
24. Saawarn B, Hait S. Occurrence, fate and removal of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater: Current knowledge and future perspectives. J Environ Chem Eng 2021; 9: 104870.
25. La Rosa G, Iaconelli M, Mancini P, Bonanno Ferraro G, Veneri C, Bonadonna L, et al. First detection of SARS-CoV-2 in untreated wastewaters in Italy. Sci Total Environ 2020; 736: 139652.
26. Kocamemi BA, Kurt H, Sait A, Sarac F, Saatci AM, Pakdemirli B. SARS-CoV-2 Detection in Istanbul Wastewater Treatment Plant Sludges. medRxiv 2020. 10.1101/2020.05.12.20099358
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 14 No 5 (2022) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/ijm.v14i5.10954 | |
| Keywords | ||
| COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Hospital contamination; Air pollution; Environmental contamination; Wastewater | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
How to Cite
1.
Ziarani F, Tahamtan A, Safari H, Tabarraei A, Shahamat Y. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 genome in the air, surfaces, and wastewater of the referral hospitals, Gorgan, north of Iran. Iran J Microbiol. 2022;14(5):617-623.
