Effectiveness of personal protective equipment in preventing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection among healthcare workers

• Published in: Journal of infection and chemotherapy : official journal of the Japan Society of Chemotherapy Vol. 27; no. 1; pp. 120 - 122
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Tetsuya, Hayakawa, Kayoko, Ainai, Akira, Iwata-Yoshikawa, Naoko, Sano, Kaori, Nagata, Noriyo, Suzuki, Tadaki, Wakimoto, Yuji, Akiyama, Yutaro, Miyazato, Yusuke, Nakamura, Keiji, Ide, Satoshi, Nomoto, Hidetoshi, Nakamoto, Takato, Ota, Masayuki, Moriyama, Yuki, Sugiki, Yuko, Saito, Sho, Morioka, Shinichiro, Ishikane, Masahiro, Kinoshita, Noriko, Kutsuna, Satoshi, Ohmagari, Norio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2021; Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Betacoronavirus - immunology; Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; Coronavirus Infections - transmission; COVID-19; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Health Personnel; Healthcare workers; Hospital-acquired infection; Humans; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional - prevention & control; Male; Middle Aged; Pandemics - prevention & control; Personal Protective Equipment; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - transmission; Prospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2; Young Adult; Personal protective equipment; CDC; PPE; IQR; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Hospital-acquired infection; Healthcare workers; ICU; HCW; Ig; ELISA; WHO
• ISSN: 1341-321X; 1437-7780; 1437-7780
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiac.2020.09.006

Information on the effectiveness of personal protective equipment (PPE) for preventing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among healthcare workers (HCWs), especially among HCWs with frequent contact with patients with SARS-CoV-2, is limited. We conducted a prospective cohort study on 49 HCWs who worked in close contact with patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. HCWs had blood samples taken every 2 weeks to test for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using two different types of assay. Forty-nine participants (31 nurses, 15 doctors, 3 other workers) were enrolled. In total, 112 blood samples are obtained from participants. The median work days in 2 weeks was 9 (interquartile range (IQR): 5–10) days. In a single work day, 30 of the 49 participants (61.5%) had contact with patients with suspected or conformed SARS-CoV-2 at least 8 times, and approximately 60% of participants had more than 10 min of contact with a single patient. The median self-reported compliance to PPE was 90% (IQR: 80–100%). Seven participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibody using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); however, none were seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody, so the positive ELISA results were assumed to be false-positive. The study provides evidence that appropriate PPE is sufficient to prevent infection amongHCWs. It is necessary to establish a system that provides a stable supply of PPE for HCWs to perform their duties.