Effectiveness of precautions against droplets and contact in prevention of nosocomial transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

By W. Seto, D. Tsang, R. Yung, T. Ching, T. Ng, M. Ho, L. Ho, J. Peiris. The Lancet, 2003

849 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We did a case-control study in five Hong Kong hospitals, with 241 non-infected and 13 infected staff with documented exposures to 11 index patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) during patient care. All participants were surveyed about use of mask, gloves, gowns, and hand-washing, as recommended under droplets and contact precautions when caring for index patients with SARS. 69 staff who reported use of all four measures were not infected, whereas all infected staff had omitted at least one measure (p=0·0224). Fewer staff who wore masks (p=0·0001), gowns (p=0·006), and washed their hands (p=0·047) became infected compared with those who didn't, but stepwise logistic regression was significant only for masks (p=0·011). Practice of droplets precaution and contact precaution is adequate in significantly reducing the risk of infection after exposures to patients with SARS. The protective role of the mask suggests that in hospitals, infection is transmitted by droplets.

Subfields: Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/64318c8d58850b8735b5f2542855d505107736bc

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In Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

Citations in the corpus

Network theory and SARS: predicting outbreak diversity (2004, background): “For example, the surgical masks seen on the streets of Hong Kong may be poorly effective against the SARS agent, and may hardly lower transmissibility, whereas the N-95 or surgical masks worn by hospital workers may be quite effective (Seto et al., 2003) .”
Transmission of SARS and MERS coronaviruses and influenza virus in healthcare settings: the possible role of dry surface contamination (2015, background): “The use of a surgical mask will protect the respiratory tract from droplets, an N95 (FFP3) respirator will protect the respiratory tract from droplet nuclei, and gloves, gowns and eye protection will prevent contact with mucous membranes and contamination of clothing or hands for subsequent nasal in”
Epidemiologic Background of Hand Hygiene and Evaluation of the Most Important Agents for Scrubs and Rubs (2004, background): “For the SARS virus, a similar correlation has been described, since hand hygiene was found to be the second most effective measure to prevent cross-transmission of the SARS virus in a hospital (510).”
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus as an Agent of Emerging and Reemerging Infection (2007, background): “stances (296), airborne precautions should be considered for”
The Effects of Temperature and Relative Humidity on the Viability of the SARS Coronavirus (2011, background): “These findings suggest that, while direct droplet transmission is an important route of transmission [23], the role of fomites and environmental contamination in virus transmission may play a significant role in virus transmission.”
2007 Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Health Care Settings (2007, background): “Eczema vaccinatum C Until lesions dry and crusted, scabs separated For contact with virus-containing lesions and exudative material Fetal vaccinia C Generalized vaccinia C 115 APPENDIX A1 TYPE AND DURATION OF PRECAUTIONS RECOMMENDED FOR SELECTED INFECTIONS AND CONDITIONS Infection/Condition Precauti”
Face Masks in the New COVID-19 Normal: Materials, Testing, and Perspectives (2020, background): “Staff who omitted at least one of these practices became infected but the wearing of masks was the most significant and important measure [35].”