Viable mpox virus in the environment of a patient room

Kalisvar Marimuthu; Judith Chui Ching Wong; Poh Lian Lim; Sophie Octavia; Xiaowei Huan; Yi Kai Ng; Jun Jing Yang; Stephanie Sutjipto; Kyaw Zaw Linn; Yin Xiang Setoh; Chong Hui Clara Ong; Jane Griffiths; Sharifah Farhanah; Thai Shawn Cheok; Nur Ashikin Binti Sulaiman; Sipaco Barbara Congcong; Erica Sena Neves; Liang Hui Loo; Luqman Hakim; Shuzhen Sim; Merrill Lim; Mohammad Nazeem; Shawn Vasoo; Kwok Wai Tham; Oon Tek Ng; Lee Ching Ng

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2023.03.016

Viable mpox virus in the environment of a patient room

Int J Infect Dis. 2023 Jun:131:40-45. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2023.03.016. Epub 2023 Mar 17.

Authors

Kalisvar Marimuthu¹, Judith Chui Ching Wong², Poh Lian Lim³, Sophie Octavia⁴, Xiaowei Huan⁵, Yi Kai Ng², Jun Jing Yang², Stephanie Sutjipto⁶, Kyaw Zaw Linn⁷, Yin Xiang Setoh⁸, Chong Hui Clara Ong⁵, Jane Griffiths², Sharifah Farhanah⁵, Thai Shawn Cheok⁵, Nur Ashikin Binti Sulaiman⁷, Sipaco Barbara Congcong⁷, Erica Sena Neves², Liang Hui Loo⁵, Luqman Hakim², Shuzhen Sim², Merrill Lim², Mohammad Nazeem², Shawn Vasoo³, Kwok Wai Tham⁹, Oon Tek Ng³, Lee Ching Ng¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore; Department of Infectious Diseases, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore; Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: kalisvar_marimuthu@ttsh.com.sg.
² Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore.
³ National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore; Department of Infectious Diseases, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore; Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
⁴ Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore; School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia.
⁵ Department of Infectious Diseases, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
⁶ National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore; Department of Infectious Diseases, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
⁷ National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore.
⁸ Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore; School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane City, Australia.
⁹ Department of the Built Environment, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
¹⁰ Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore; School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Abstract

We conducted a prospective environmental surveillance study to investigate the air, surface, dust, and water contamination of a room occupied by a patient infected with mpox virus (MPXV) at various stages of the illness. The patient tested positive for MPXV from a throat swab and skin lesions. Environmental sampling was conducted in a negative pressure room with 12 unidirectional high efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA) air changes per hour and daily cleaning of the surfaces. A total of 179 environmental samples were collected on days 7, 8, 13, and 21 of illness. Among the days of sampling, air, surface, and dust contamination showed the highest contamination rates on day 7 and 8 of illness, with a gradual decline to the lowest contamination level by day 21. Viable MPXV was isolated from surfaces and dust samples and no viable virus was isolated from the air and water samples.

Keywords: Airborne transmission; Environmental contamination; Formite; Modes of transmission; Mpox virus (MPXV); Surface contamination.

MeSH terms

Dust
Humans
Monkeypox virus* / isolation & purification
Mpox (monkeypox)
Patients' Rooms*
Prospective Studies
Water

Substances

Dust
Water