TY - JOUR
AU - da Silva, Severino Jefferson Ribeiro
AU - Nascimento, Jéssica Catarine Frutuoso
AU - Santos Reis, Wendell Palôma Maria
AU - Silva, Caroline Targino Alves
AU - Silva, Poliana Gomes
AU - Mendes, Renata Pessôa Germano
AU - Mendonça, Allyson Andrade
AU - Santos, Bárbara Nazly Rodrigues
AU - Magalhães, Jurandy Júnior Ferraz
AU - Kohl, Alain
AU - Pena, Lindomar
PY - 2021
DA - December
TI - Widespread contamination of SARS‐CoV-2 on highly touched surfaces in Brazil during the second wave of the COVID ‐19 pandemic
JO - Environmental Microbiology
EP - 7395
VL - 23
IS - 12
DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15855
AB - Although SARS-CoV-2 surface contamination has been investigated in health care settings, little is known about the SARS-CoV-2 surface contamination in public urban areas, particularly in tropical countries. Here, we investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on high-touch surfaces in a large city in Brazil, one the most affected countries by the COVID-19 pandemic in the world. A total of 400 surface samples were collected in February 2021 in the City of Recife, Northeastern Brazil. A total of 97 samples (24.2%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-qPCR using the CDC-USA protocol. All the collection sites, except one (18/19, 94.7%) had at least one environmental surface sample contaminated. SARS-CoV-2 positivity was higher in public transport terminals (47/84, 55.9%), followed by health care units (26/84, 30.9%), beach areas (4/21, 19.0%), public parks (14/105, 13.3%), supply center (2/21, 9.5%), and public markets (4/85, 4.7%). Toilets, ATMs, handrails, playground, and outdoor gym were identified as fomites with the highest rates of SARS-CoV-2 detection. Taken together, our data provide a real-world picture of SARS-CoV-2 dispersion in highly populated tropical areas and identified critical control points that need to be targeted to break SARS-CoV-2 transmission chains.
PB - Wiley
UR - http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/260095/
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
ER