Abstract View
Air Quality Sensing-based Surveillance for Detection of Pathogens Causing Healthcare-associated Infections
HEMA RAVINDRAN, Shantanu Sur, Suresh Dhaniyala, Clarkson University
Abstract Number: 461
Working Group: The Role of Aerosol Science in the Understanding of the Spread and Control of COVID-19 and Other Infectious Diseases
Abstract
As per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on any given day, 1 in 31 hospital patients suffer from at least one healthcare-associated infection (HAI). Microorganisms inhabiting hospital are distinct from those found in other indoor environments and are responsible for causing HAI and impacting patient recovery and outcome. Pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), multi-drug resistant Gram-negative Bacilli, norovirus, Clostridium difficile, Acinetobacter baumannii, persist in the hospital environment for days and can predominantly disperse through air. The airborne transmission has gained attention recently with the SARS CoV-2 outbreak, where droplets and aerosol are thought to play a major role for the spread of infection, and hospitals are particularly vulnerable due to the congregation of COVID-19 patients.
To obtain a community-level understanding of airborne pathogens in a hospital environment, we characterized the airborne bacterial, fungal, and viral population over the course of 1 year in a local hospital. We used a low cost, portable air-quality monitoring and bioaerosol sampling device, ‘TracB’ (Trace Aerosol sensor and Collector for Bio-particles; Potsdam Sensors Corp), for this study. The devices are deployed in five critical zones of a hospital to monitor air quality in real time and analyze airborne pathogens offline. We observed a positive correlation (R2 = 0.67) between particle concentration and microbial load in the air. The contribution of outdoor air infiltration and human activities in the indoor aerosol concentration was evaluated. For the collected bioaerosol samples, metagenomics was used to characterize the microbial diversity and quantitative PCR for a targeted detection of HAI pathogens. Spatial correlation analyses revealed a communal behavior of pathogens with the naive microorganisms in hospital air. We will present details of the sampler, air monitoring, and pathogen characterization procedures, and the results from our ongoing work.