Exaggerated risk of transmission of COVID-19 by fomites

Abstract

Availability of diagnostics and antifungals, and training in their use, will reduce deaths from advanced HIV disease (by up to 30%). 2 Mistaken diagnoses of pulmonary tuberculosis when actually the problem is a fungal lung infection will be averted. Implementation of these priorities will strengthen public health systems, support antimicrobial stewardship, 9 develop clinician skills, and appropriately diversify differential diagnosis. New approaches have to be explored, such as the implementation of artificial intelligence, to address the shortage of health-care workers in the Latin American and Caribbean region, Africa, and southeast Asia. We anticipate that the enhancement, innovation, and increased integration of fungal disease diagnosis and management within the health system will benefit not only those with fungal disease, but also improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of the entire healthcare system.We declare no competing interests.

End-to-End Protocol for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 from Built Environments

“…The current clinical method for screening potential SARS-CoV-2 virus patients requires an initial throat and/or nasopharyngeal swab sample collection (9). Unlike clinical samples, fomites and high-touch surfaces that become contaminated with the virus display lower concentrations of the virus (10), which are often difficult to detect due to method limitations and, in some cases, inhibitory materials. For this reason, robust methods are imperative for the recovery and detection of SARS-CoV-2 from environmental surfaces.…”

A Risk-Based Approach to the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experience in National Dental Centre Singapore

“…The persistence on surfaces is particularly worrying because inadvertent self-inoculation may be possible after touching such contaminated surfaces. Some of these studies used samples of the virus that were several orders of magnitude higher than those in droplets in real-life scenarios and it may be argued that the risk of transmission of COVID-19 through surfaces is extremely small (33). However, as environmental transmission remains a theoretical possibility, disinfection of the clinical environment with prescribed workflows and trained dental personnel is prudent in reducing transmission.…”

Variation in microparasite free-living survival and indirect transmission can modulate the intensity of emerging outbreaks

“…Because of the identifiability problem 9,61,62 and a general lack of consensus regarding the mechanisms of transmission in various diseases, we caution against the overextrapolation of these findings to any particular epidemic. As of fall 2020, the evidence for widespread surface transmission of SARS-CoV-2 remains dubious [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] . Insofar as SARS-CoV-2 is not the last of the emerging infectious diseases, then we should remain vigilant about understanding how different routes of transmission may influence disease dynamics, as there remain other microparasites in human and nonhuman hosts that are transmitted via the environmental route and require our attention.…”

“…However, one feature of SARS-CoV-2 transmission that was validated in laboratory settings, but whose epidemiological role remains highly controversial, is SARS-CoV-2 free-living survival. Specifically, several laboratory and epidemiological findings offer conflicting evidence that indirect or environmental transmission (via free-living virus) may play a role in some settings [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] , and to our knowledge, none have fully investigated how this route of transmission may influence features of outbreaks. Several unknowns notwithstanding, the availability of SARS-CoV-2 data make it a valuable model for examining the particulars of indirect transmission in emerging outbreaks.…”