Table 3.
Epidemiological Characteristics of Patients Under Cohort Nursing in Airborne Infection Isolation Room With Respiratory Tract Infection Associated With Detectable Viral Genome by Air Sampler
| Pair of Patients (Episode of Air Sampling) | Sex/Age | Symptoms (Underlying Disease, If Any) | Respiratory Virus | Viral Load in NPA (Date of Collection) |
Viral Load in Air (Date of Collection) a |
Treatment [Remark] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (1) | F/65 d | Cough (Down syndrome) | RSV | 3.47×107 copy/mL (23 Dec 2021) |
10 copy/mL (30 Dec 2021) b |
Salbutamol puff, paracetamol |
| 1 (1) | F/10 y | Seizure (epilepsy) | RSV | 4.10×107 copy/mL (29 Dec 2021) |
Nil [wearing mask in AIIR] | |
| 2 (2) | F/5 mo | Fever, cough, RN | RSV | 8.30×105 copy/mL (6 Jan 2022) |
5,745 copy/mL (11 Jan 2022) b |
Salbutamol puff, amoxicillin-clavulanate |
| 2 (2) | F/10 mo | Fever, cough, RN | RSV | 1.97×107 copy/mL (11 Jan 2022) |
Amoxicillin-clavulanate | |
| 3 (3–5) | F/5 mo | Fever, cough, RN | RSV | 5.42×107 copy/mL (6 Jan 2022) |
4.99×105 copy/mL (12 Jan 2022) b ; 691 copy/mL (13 Jan 2022) b ; 474 copy/mL (14 Jan 2022) b |
Salbutamol puff, amoxicillin-clavulanate |
| 3 (3–5) | F/20 mo | Fever, SOB | RSV | 8.76×107 copy/mL (9 Jan 2022) |
Salbutamol puff | |
| 4 (6–7) | M/6 y | Fever, cough (cerebral palsy) | PIF | 1.68×108 copy/mL (4 Jan 2022) | 1.42 ×105 copy/mL (4 Jan 2022) b ; 9,188 copy/mL (5 Jan 2022) b |
Salbutamol puff, paracetamol |
| 4 (6–7) | M/24 mo | Fever (DD) | PIF | 3.49×107 copy/mL (3 Jan 2022) |
Paracetamol | |
| 5 (8) | F/4 mo | Cough | PIF | 2.07×104 copy/mL (20 Jan 2022) | 1.27×105 copy/mL (21 Jan 2022) b |
Salbutamol puff |
| 5 (8) | M/3 y | Fever, cough | PIF | 8.21×107 copy/mL (20 Jan 2022) |
Nil | |
| 6 (9) | M/18 mo | Cough, RN, SOB | Rhinovirus | 6.17×105 copy/mL (18 Jan 2022) | 54 copy/mL (20 Jan 2022) b |
Salbutamol puff, paracetamol |
| 6 (9) | M/11 mo | Vomiting | Rhinovirus | 3.38×107 copy/mL (18 Jan 2022) |
Nil | |
| 7 (10) | F/4 y | Fever, vomiting | Adenovirus | 9.15×107 copy/mL (24 Jan 2022) | 5,150 copy/mL (25 Jan 2022) c |
Paracetamol |
| 7 (10) | M/9 mo | Cough, RN, SOB (CDH) | Adenovirus | 5.33×103 copy/mL (23 Jan 2022) |
Salbutamol puff |
Note. AIIR, airborne infection isolation room; CDH, congenital heart disease; DD, developmental delay; NPA, nasopharyngeal aspirates; PIF, parainfluenza virus; RN, running nose; RSV, respiratory syncytial virus; SOB, shortness of breath.
72,000 L of air was collected over a 6-h period for each air sample. Except for a 10-year-old girl, all patients did not wear surgical masks during the air sample collection. During the viral load assay for air samples, the collection substrate was immersed in 2 mL viral transport medium. Therefore, the viral load in air is expressed as the copy of viral genome per mL of viral transport medium.
Detectable viral RNA in air.
Detectable viral DNA in air.