Risks of Infection with SARS-CoV-2 Due to Contaminated Surfaces: A Scoping Review.

Int J Environ Res Public Health

Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.

Published: October 2021

AI Article Synopsis

  • - The COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the importance of understanding how the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads, particularly through contaminated surfaces, with studies showing conflicting results on this transmission mode.
  • - This scoping review analyzed 565 articles on the risk of contamination via surfaces, ultimately including 25 studies which classified contamination risks as "low," "high," "plausible," "unlikely," and "insufficient evidence."
  • - Most research focused on hospital environments, indicating that while there is some risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from contaminated surfaces, the majority of articles assessed this risk as low, emphasizing the need for further investigation.

Article Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak is a global health concern. Understanding the transmission modes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is key to limit the spread of the pandemic. A lack of knowledge about the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and infection through contaminated surfaces is noticeable and recent studies have stated conflicting findings. This scoping review aims to understand the risks of contaminations via fomites better. Relevant publications were selected through Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Medline, and Cochrane Library, with related keywords. PRISMA-ScR guidelines were followed. Out of the 565 articles found, exclusion criteria were applied, duplicates removed, and a total of 25 articles were finally included in the study. The included documents were assessed by the contamination risk: "low" (37.5%), "high" (16.7%), "plausible" (8.3%), "unlikely" (8.3%) risk, and "insufficient evidence" (29.2%). Research in hospital settings was found as the main setting in the reviewed papers, which precisely indicated the risk of contaminated surfaces. This scoping review underscores the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection via contaminated surfaces assessed as low in the majority of the reviewed articles. Further evaluation of the risk of the virus transmission by fomites and providing adequate information on its infectivity via contaminated surfaces in real-life conditions is essential.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8583529PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111019DOI Listing

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