Occupational Inhalation Exposure to Infectious Respiratory Virus Aerosols in Medical Facilities

项目总结 准确评估医护人员个人接触空气传播致病病毒的情况 受到现有生物气溶胶采样器的阻碍，这些采样器要么在对传染性疾病进行采样方面效率低下 空气传播的病毒并保持其生存能力，或不适合个人采样。的目标是 这项拟议的工作是为了更准确地评估个人暴露于不同 空气传播传染病病毒的传播方式。这将通过以下方式实现：赋予 国家职业安全与健康研究所(NIOSH)生物气溶胶采样器将成为 选择个人采样器，以便它可以通过以下方式高效地收集空气中含有病毒的颗粒 他们的颗粒大小，并保持他们的生存能力信息，以供暴露风险评估。 这项建议的两个具体目标是：(1)将NIOSH采样器与黄金- 活病毒气溶胶采样器标准参考物(VIVAS)。Vivas在以下方面非常高效 收集可以通过空气传播的病毒，但太大太重，不适合个人采样。校准器 将使用实验室产生的呼吸道病毒气雾剂进行，以获得校正系数 使用NIOSH采样器测定活病毒气溶胶浓度。(2)评价个人 使用校准的NIOSH采样器，医护人员暴露在空气传播病毒中的情况。字段 在学生保健中心(SHCC)对NIOSH采样器和Vivas进行共同定位的测试将 在真实环境中验证实验室生成的修正系数。届时将进行采样 使用校准的NIOSH采样器进行，以评估个人暴露在 在流感季节，小肝癌的接待员、医护人员和医疗助理。 不同阶段收集的不同大小的含病毒颗粒的结果 NIOSH采样器将揭示不同传输模式的相对重要性 空气传播的病毒。个人样本和固定样本的配对比较将揭示出 固定抽样可以代替个人抽样。从建议中学到的知识 研究将允许制定行政政策和工程控制，以更好地保护 医护人员不希望暴露在空气传播的传染病病毒中。这项建议 回应NIOSH 2019-23财年战略计划设定的两个最能代表 美国劳动力面临的健康和安全问题：目标3--减少职业传染性 目标5--减少职业性呼吸道疾病。具体地说，目标3.3--传染性 疾病传播和活动目标3.3.1-开展基础/病因学研究，以更好地 了解流感空气生物学和在医疗保健环境中的传播。

PROJECT SUMMARY Accurate assessment of healthcare workers’ personal exposure to airborne pathogenic viruses is hampered by existing bioaerosol samplers, which are either inefficient in sampling infectious airborne viruses and maintaining their viability, or not suitable for personal sampling. The goal of this proposed work is to more accurately assess personal exposure resulting from different transmission modes of airborne infectious viruses. This will be accomplished by empowering the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) bioaerosol sampler to be the personal sampler of choice so that it can efficiently collect airborne virus-containing particles by their particle size and maintain their viability information for exposure risk assessment. The two specific aims of this proposal are to: (1) Calibrate the NIOSH sampler against the gold- standard reference of Viable Virus Aerosol Sampler (VIVAS). The VIVAS is highly efficient in collecting viable airborne viruses, but too large and heavy for personal sampling. The calibration will be conducted using lab-generated respiratory virus aerosols to obtain correction factors for determining viable virus aerosol concentrations using the NIOSH sampler. (2) Evaluate personal exposures of healthcare workers to airborne viruses using the calibrated NIOSH sampler. Field tests of co-located NIOSH sampler and the VIVAS at a student health care center (SHCC) will corroborate the lab-generated correction factors in a real-world environment. Sampling will then be conducted using the calibrated NIOSH sampler to assess the personal exposures of the receptionist, healthcare providers, and medical assistants at the SHCC during flu season. Results of the size-fractionated virus-containing particles collected by different stages of the NIOSH sampler will bring to light the relative importance of the different transmission modes of airborne viruses. Paired comparisons of the personal vs. stationary samplings will reveal if stationary sampling can substitute for personal sampling. Knowledge learned from the proposed study will allow setting of administrative polices and engineering control that better protect healthcare workers from undesired exposure to airborne infectious viruses. This proposal responds to two goals set by NIOSH’s Strategic Plans for FY 2019-23 that best represent the health and safety issues facing the U.S. workforce: Goal 3 - reduce occupational infectious disease, and Goal 5 - reduce occupational respiratory disease. Specifically, Goal 3.3 - infectious disease transmission, and Activity Goal 3.3.1 - conduct basic/ etiologic research to better understand influenza aerobiology and transmission in healthcare settings.