Possibility of transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in a tertiary care hospital setting: A case study

• Main Authors: Shinichiro Morioka (Author), Keiji Nakamura (Author), Shun Iida (Author), Satoshi Kutsuna (Author), Noriko Kinoshita (Author), Tetsuya Suzuki (Author), Tadaki Suzuki (Author), Kei Yamamoto (Author), Kayoko Hayakawa (Author), Sho Saito (Author), Norio Ohmagari (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Elsevier, 2020-09-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2590-0889; 10.1016/j.infpip.2020.100079
• Keywords: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Environment; Contamination; Transmission; Hospital; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Infection Prevention in Practice, Vol 2, Iss 3, Pp 100079- (2020)

Summary: Introduction: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has spready globally. This report describes the person-to-person transmission of the virus in a hospital setting. Presentation of case: A 63-year-old man with pneumonia and a 70-year-old man without symptoms were admitted to a tertiary hospital with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Both men were accompanied by their wives, who stayed with their husbands during their hospitalisation. The wives of Patient 1 and Patient 2 tested positive and negative for SARS-CoV-2, respectively. Of the environmental samples tested, 1/21 and 0/25 from the rooms of Patient 1 and Patient 2, respectively, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Patient 1's wife appeared to have acquired infection during her husband's hospitalisation. Discussion: The study had several limitations, including methodology inconsistencies. Additionally, a viral culture was not performed to demonstrate the viability of the virus identified in the environmental sample. Finally, the wife of Patient 1 stayed on the Diamond Princess cruise ship for 4 days before being transferred to the hospital and may have been infected on the ship and not while in the hospital. Conclusion: Our study suggests that airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 may be limited. However, owing to the abovementioned limitations, the results should be interpreted with caution.