• Alessio Dell'Olio, Caterina Vocale, Alessandra Primavera, Lara Pisani, Salvatore Altavilla, Greta Roncarati, Fabio Tumietto, Pierluigi Viale, Maria Carla Re, Tiziana Lazzarotto, Stefano Nava, V Marco Ranieri, and Tommaso Tonetti.
• Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
• Respir Care. 2023 Jan 1; 68 (1): 171-7.

BackgroundEnvironmental contamination by SARS-CoV-2 from patients with COVID-19 undergoing noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in the ICU is still under investigation. This study set out to investigate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces near subjects receiving NIV in the ICU under controlled conditions (ie, use of dual-limb circuits, filters, adequate room ventilation).MethodsThis was a single-center, prospective, observational study in the ICU of a tertiary teaching hospital. Four surface sampling areas, at increasing distance from subject's face, were identified; and each one was sampled at fixed intervals: 6, 12, and 24 h. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 was detected with real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) test on environmental swabs; the RT-PCR assay targeted the SARS-CoV-2 virus nucleocapsid N1 and N2 genes and the human RNase P gene as internal control.ResultsIn a total of 256 collected samples, none were positive for SARS-CoV-2 genetic material, whereas 21 samples (8.2%) tested positive for RNase P, thus demonstrating the presence of genetic material unrelated to SARS-CoV-2.ConclusionsOur data show that application of NIV in an appropriate environment and with correct precautions leads to no sign of surface environmental contamination. Accordingly, our data support the idea that use of NIV in the ICU is safe both for health care workers and for other patients.Copyright © 2023 by Daedalus Enterprises.

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