Abstract View
Evaluating the Presence of Airborne Virus in Common Upper Airway Surgical Procedures
TOFIGH SAYAHI, Chris Neilson, Yuan Yu, Kayden Neurberger, Michael Seipp, Matt Firpo, Albert Park, Kerry Kelly, University of Utah
Abstract Number: 601
Working Group: The Role of Aerosol Science in the Understanding of the Spread and Control of COVID-19 and Other Infectious Diseases
Abstract
The risk of COVID-19 transmission through aerosols generated during upper airway (UA) surgical procedures is a great concern to healthcare workers due to high viral loads in oral and nasal secretions of the infected patients. This study uses a murine cytomegalovirus (mCMV) model for infection to: 1) investigate whether common UA surgeries can generate aerosolized virus and whether the virus is viable, and 2) quantify aerosol generation. We inoculated BALB/c mice with saline (3 mice) or mCMV (14 mice), and after 5 days we performed the following four procedures on each mouse: drilling, microdebrider, coblation, and electrocautery. We used an Aerosol Device Biospot sampler to collect aerosol samples for virus detection using viral culture (viable) and for viral titer using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We also evaluated the particle size distribution (using SMPS/APS and GRIMM) and PM2.5 concentration (using DustTrak II and GRIMM). The results showed coblation and electrocautery generated the highest aerosol concentrations, with over 100,000- or 35,000-fold increases in PM2.5 concentration compared to background levels, and over 350- or 1200-fold increases in the total particle counts compared to background levels, respectively. We identified viral DNA in samples from coblation and drilling procedure, however, the preliminary tests did not identify viable viruses in samples from any of the procedures.