Surface contamination with SARS-CoV-2: A systematic review

Little is known about contaminated surfaces as a route of transmission for SARS-CoV- 2 and a systematic review is missing and urgently needed to provide guidelines for future research studies. As such, the aim of the present study was to review the current scientific knowledge and to summarize the e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2021-12, Vol.798, p.149231-149231, Article 149231
Main Authors: Gonçalves, José, da Silva, Priscilla Gomes, Reis, Luís, Nascimento, Maria São José, Koritnik, Tom, Paragi, Metka, Mesquita, João R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
COVID-19
Drug Contamination
Environmental contamination
Environmental health
Hospitals
Humans
Public health
RNA, Viral
SARS-CoV-2
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Summary:Little is known about contaminated surfaces as a route of transmission for SARS-CoV- 2 and a systematic review is missing and urgently needed to provide guidelines for future research studies. As such, the aim of the present study was to review the current scientific knowledge and to summarize the existing studies in which SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in inanimate surfaces. This systematic review includes studies since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, available in PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus. Duplicate publications were removed, and exclusion criteria was applied to eliminate unrelated studies, resulting in 37 eligible publications. The present study provides the first overview of SARS-CoV-2 detection in surfaces. The highest detection rates occurred in hospitals and healthcare facilities with COVID-19 patients. Contamination with SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces was detected in a wide range of facilities and surfaces. There is a lack of studies performing viability testing for SARS-CoV-2 recovered from surfaces, and consequently it is not yet possible to assess the potential for transmission via surfaces. [Display omitted] •SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been detected in a wide range of facilities and surfaces;•17.7% of samples in hospital settings and 10.1% in non-hospital settings were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, using various molecular methods;•6 out of the 37 studies have evaluated the viability/infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 from 242 positive surface samples;•No viable virus could be isolated from the 242 samples with SARS-CoV-2 RNA detected by RT-qPCR;•COVID-19 fomite transmission has not been demonstrated.
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149231