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Revisiting SARS-CoV-2 environmental contamination by patients with COVID-19: The Omicron variant does not differ from

Itai Glinert1, Amir Ben-Shmuel1, Moran Szwartcwort-Cohen2

  • 1Department of Infectious Diseases, Israel Institute for Biological Research, Ness-Ziona, Israel.

International Journal of Infectious Diseases : IJID : Official Publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases
|March 8, 2022
PubMed

Insights

The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 did not show significant differences in surface or air contamination compared to earlier strains. No infectious virus was detected, suggesting similar spread modalities across variants.

Area of Science:

  • Virology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Public Health

Background:

  • The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron strain prompted concerns regarding potentially altered spread and contamination.
  • Understanding contamination routes is crucial for effective infection control strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and compare the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on surfaces and in the air around patients infected with the Omicron strain versus original and Alpha strains.
  • To determine if Omicron exhibits altered contamination modalities compared to previous SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Main Methods:

  • Environmental sampling of high-contact surfaces and air near patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron, original, and Alpha strains.
  • Utilized identical sampling protocols across all patient groups for direct comparison.
  • Viral RNA detection using established methods, with attempts to identify infectious virus.

Main Results:

  • Viral RNA was detected in a significant proportion of surface samples (90/168) and a smaller fraction of air samples (6/49) across all tested strains.
  • No statistically significant differences in the prevalence of viral RNA on surfaces or in the air were observed between the Omicron, original, and Alpha strains.
  • Crucially, no infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus was identified in any of the collected samples.

Conclusions:

  • The Omicron strain does not appear to significantly alter the prevalence of viral RNA on environmental surfaces or in the air compared to earlier SARS-CoV-2 strains.
  • The absence of infectious virus in environmental samples suggests that surface and air contamination may not be a primary driver of the increased transmissibility observed with Omicron.
  • Findings indicate that standard infection control measures remain relevant for managing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, irrespective of the dominant strain.
Keywords:
AlphaOmicronSARS-CoV-2air samplesoriginalsurface contamination

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