NETEC Resource Library

Development and Comparison of Complementary Methods to Study Potential Skin and Inhalational Exposure to Pathogens During Personal Protective Equipment Doffing

Elemento

Click for External Resource*


Click to read full article*


*The link above may share a zip file (.zip) hosted on repository.netecweb.org. Zip files will download automatically.
*All other links are external and will open in a new window. If you click an external link, you are leaving the NETEC site, and we do not maintain, review, or endorse these materials. See our terms of use.


Item Type

Publicación

Terms of Use

By accessing these materials you are agreeing to our terms of use, which may be found here: Terms of Use.

Was this resource helpful?


Título

Development and Comparison of Complementary Methods to Study Potential Skin and Inhalational Exposure to Pathogens During Personal Protective Equipment Doffing

Descripción

Fluorescent tracers are often used with ultraviolet lights to visibly identify healthcare worker self-contamination after doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Fuente

Therkorn, Jennifer, David Drewry, Jennifer Andonian, Lauren Benishek, Carrie Billman, Ellen R. Forsyth, Brian T. Garibaldi, Elaine Nowakowski, Kaitlin Rainwater-Lovett, Lauren Sauer, Maggie Schiffhauer, and Lisa L. Maragakis.

Fecha

2019-10-01

Citación

Therkorn, Jennifer, David Drewry, Jennifer Andonian, Lauren Benishek, Carrie Billman, Ellen R. Forsyth, Brian T. Garibaldi, Elaine Nowakowski, Kaitlin Rainwater-Lovett, Lauren Sauer, Maggie Schiffhauer, and Lisa L. Maragakis. 2019. "Development and Comparison of Complementary Methods to Study Potential Skin and Inhalational Exposure to Pathogens During Personal Protective Equipment Doffing." Clinical Infectious Diseases 69 (Supplement_3):S231-S40.

Resumen

Abstract

Background

Fluorescent tracers are often used with ultraviolet lights to visibly identify healthcare worker self-contamination after doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE). This method has drawbacks, as it cannot detect pathogen-sized contaminants nor airborne contamination in subjects’ breathing zones.

Methods

A contamination detection/quantification method was developed using 2-µm polystyrene latex spheres (PSLs) to investigate skin contamination (via swabbing) and potential inhalational exposure (via breathing zone air sampler). Porcine skin coupons were used to estimate the PSL swabbing recovery efficiency and limit of detection (LOD). A pilot study with 5 participants compared skin contamination levels detected via the PSL vs fluorescent tracer methods, while the air sampler quantified potential inhalational exposure to PSLs during doffing.

Results

Average PSL skin swab recovery efficiency was 40% ± 29% (LOD = 1 PSL/4 cm2 of skin). In the pilot study, all subjects had PSL and fluorescent tracer skin contamination. Two subjects had simultaneously located contamination of both types on a wrist and hand. However, for all other subjects, the PSL method enabled detection of skin contamination that was not detectable by the fluorescent tracer method. Hands/wrists were more commonly contaminated than areas of the head/face (57% vs 23% of swabs with PSL detection, respectively). One subject had PSLs detected by the breathing zone air sampler.

Conclusions

This study provides a well-characterized method that can be used to quantitate levels of skin and inhalational contact with simulant pathogen particles. The PSL method serves as a complement to the fluorescent tracer method to study PPE doffing self-contamination.

Accesibilidad

Online with journal subscription (Oxford Academic).

Collection