Infect Chemother.  2015 Dec;47(4):252-255. 10.3947/ic.2015.47.4.252.

Viral Shedding and Environmental Cleaning in Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection

• Song JY
• Cheong HJ
• Choi MJ
• Jeon JH
• Kang SH
• Jeong EJ
• Yoon JG
• Lee SN
• Kim SR
• Noh JY
• Kim WJ

• KMID: 2170503
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3947/ic.2015.47.4.252

Abstract

Viral shedding lasted 31 and 19 days from symptom onset in two patients with east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) pneumonia, respectively. Environmental real-time RT-PCR was weakly positive for bed guardrail and monitors. Even after cleaning the monitors with 70% alcohol-based disinfectant, RT-PCR was still weakly positive, and converted to negative only after wiping with diluted sodium chlorite. Further studies are required to clarify the appropriate methods to clean environments during and after treatment of patients with MERS-CoV infection.

Keyword

Virus shedding; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome; Coronavirus

MeSH Terms

Coronavirus Infections*
Coronavirus*
Humans
Middle East*
Pneumonia
Sodium
Virus Shedding*
Sodium

Reference

1. Zumla A, Hui DS, Perlman S. Middle East respiratory syndrome. Lancet. 2015; 386:995–1007.

2. Al-Abdallat MM, Payne DC, Alqasrawi S, Rha B, Tohme RA, Abedi GR, Al Nsour M, Iblan I, Jarour N, Farag NH, Haddadin A, Al-Sanouri T, Tamin A, Harcourt JL, Kuhar DT, Swerdlow DL, Erdman DD, Pallansch MA, Haynes LM, Gerber SI. Jordan MERS-CoV Investigation Team. Hospital-associated outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus: a serologic, epidemiologic, and clinical description. Clin Infect Dis. 2014; 59:1225–1233.

3. Assiri A, McGeer A, Perl TM, Price CS, Al Rabeeah AA, Cummings DA, Alabdullatif ZN, Assad M, Almulhim A, Makhdoom H, Madani H, Alhakeem R, Al-Tawfiq JA, Cotten M, Watson SJ, Kellam P, Zumla AI, Memish ZA. KSA MERS-CoV Investigation Team. Hospital outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. N Engl J Med. 2013; 369:407–416.

4. Korean Society of Infectious Diseases. Korean Society for Healthcare-associated Infection Control and Prevention. An unexpected outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in the Republic of Korea. Infect Chemother. 2015; 47:120–122.

5. van Doremalen N, Bushmaker T, Munster VJ. Stability of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) under different environmental conditions. Euro Surveill. 2013; 18(pii):20590.

6. Boone SA, Gerba CP. Significance of fomites in the spread of respiratory and enteric viral disease. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2007; 73:1687–1696.

7. World Health Organization (WHO). Infection prevention and control of epidemic- and pandemic-prone acute respiratory infections in health care. Geneva: WHO;2014.

8. Wu J, Yi L, Zou L, Zhong H, Liang L, Song T, Song Y, Su J, Ke C. Imported case of MERS-CoV infection identified in China, May 2015: detection and lesson learned. Euro Surveill. 2015; 20:pii: 21158.

9. de Sousa R, Reusken C, Koopmans M. MERS coronavirus: data gaps for laboratory preparedness. J Clin Virol. 2014; 59:4–11.