A variety of airborne infections in susceptible hosts can result from exposures to clinically significant microorganisms released into the air when environmental reservoirs (i.e., soil, water, dust, and decaying organic matter) are disturbed. Once these materials are brought indoors into a health-care facility by any of a number of vehicles (e.g., people, air currents, water, construction materials, and equipment), the attendant microorganisms can proliferate in various indoor ecological niches and, if subsequently disbursed into the air, serve as a source for airborne health-care associated infections.
Respiratory infections can be acquired from exposure to pathogens contained either in droplets or droplet nuclei. Exposure to microorganisms in droplets (e.g., through aerosolized oral and nasal secretions from infected patients) constitutes a form of direct contact transmission. When droplets are produced during a sneeze or cough, a cloud of infectious particles >5 μm in size is expelled, resulting in the potential exposure of susceptible persons within 3 feet of the source person.6 Examples of pathogens spread in this manner are influenza virus, rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Because these agents primarily are transmitted directly and because the droplets tend to fall out of the air quickly, measures to control air flow in a health-care facility (e.g., use of negative pressure rooms) generally are not indicated for preventing the spread of diseases caused by these agents.
The spread of airborne infectious diseases via droplet nuclei is a form of indirect transmission. Droplet nuclei are the residuals of droplets that, when suspended in air, subsequently dry and produce particles ranging in size from 1–5 μm. These particles can
a. contain potentially viable microorganisms,
b. be protected by a coat of dry secretions,
c. remain suspended indefinitely in air, and
d. be transported over long distances.
The microorganisms in droplet nuclei persist in favorable conditions (e.g., a dry, cool atmosphere with little or no direct exposure to sunlight or other sources of radiation). Pathogenic microorganisms that can be spread via droplet nuclei include Mycobacterium tuberculosis, VZV, measles virus (i.e., rubeola), and smallpox virus (i.e., variola major).6 Several environmental pathogens have life-cycle forms that are similar in size to droplet nuclei and may exhibit similar behavior in the air. The spores of Aspergillus fumigatus have a diameter of 2–3.5 μm, with a settling velocity estimated at 0.03 cm/second (or about 1 meter/hour) in still air. With this enhanced buoyancy, the spores, which resist desiccation, can remain airborne indefinitely in air currents and travel far from their source.
Friday, April 8, 2022
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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Environmental Infection Control in Health-Care Facilities
Disinfection in the Hemodialysis Unit
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies in humans and in animals
