Researchers from the Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Jersey, the only Comprehensive Cancer Center designated by the state National Cancer Institute, evaluated the incidence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on various environmental surfaces. the hematology / oncology of patients and patients. locations located within the Rutgers Cancer Institute and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, RWJBarnabas Health facility. The study revealed a very low detection of SARS-CoV-2 on an environmental surface across several outpatient and inpatient oncology areas, including COVID-19 active floor. Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, FACP, associate director for clinical services and director of the Lymphoma Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute and medical director of the oncology service line at RWJBarnabas Health, is the lead author of the work, published in the online edition of 18 February of Cancer. (doi: 10.1002 / cncr.33453)
Patients who develop hematologic malignancies, which are cancers that affect the blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes, have shown a higher mortality rate due to the virus. While COVID-19 is transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets, it has been recognized that there is a potential risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission through contact with contaminated surfaces and equipment, to especially in health care settings, creating additional anxiety for patients with blood cancers.
“For patients with blood cancers who may be at a higher risk of developing complications from the virus, our findings provide a level of assurance that these patients are safe when visit high-impact areas where they receive the cancer care, “notes Dr. Evens, who is also a professor of medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Rutgers School of Medicine.” The results of this study helps us to better understand how COVID-19 is shifted in hematology / oncology and other medical conditions, and demonstrates that strategies such as improved cleaning and disinfection policies are highly effective. “
Environmental swabs were performed in two outpatient clinics comprising the malignant hematology and medical oncology units and infusion chambers as well as patient areas comprising the leukemia / lymphoma unit / CAR T-cell, and an inpatient unit that cared for patients with active infection with COVID-19. Surfaces were sampled Monday, Wednesday and Friday from June 17, 2020 through June 29, 2020. Areas included waiting rooms, infusion areas, bathrooms, floors, elevator banks, doors, and test rooms, equipment computer, pine tubing stations, pharmacy benches. , and pharmacy rooms. Medical equipment was also removed from these areas including intravenous poles, chemotherapy bags, monitor vitals, telemetry stations, and linen carts.
An analysis of the 130 samples collected was divided into three categories: patient / public areas (85), staff areas (22), and medical equipment (23). In both outpatient clinics and leukemia / lymphoma / CAR T cell unit, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not detected on any swabbed surface. In the patient COVID unit, one patient / public sample was positive for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in an area where a recently infected patient was receiving treatment.
Thus, the overall positive detection rate for SARS-CoV-2 RNA across all surfaces in the outpatient and inpatient hematology / oncology units was 0.5 percent low.
The authors note study limitations include the inability to study the total surface area of the different locations, which may have reduced sensitivity. Furthermore, researchers did not attempt to culture SARS-CoV-2 from the same positive sample; the presence of a virus is unknown. Ongoing studies are needed to monitor virus transmission rates and the environmental factors involved in the proliferation of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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