Detection of Common Respiratory Viruses and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in Patient-Occupied Rooms in Pediatric Wards

Wan, Gwo-Hwa; Huang, Chung-Guei; Chung, Fen-Fang; Lin, Tzou-Yien; Tsao, Kuo-Chien; Huang, Yhu-Chering

Object surface sampling was performed within 2 days after the patients had moved into their rooms. The surfaces of the following items were swabbed in each patient's room: nursing call button, bed handrail, television remote control buttons, light switch, bathroom door knobs (2 samples from both the inner and outer door knobs), and inner ward room door knob. After surface sampling, the swabs were immediately immersed in 2 mL phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (Sigma-Aldrich) and stored at À808C until analysis. Again, 10% of the blank samples were examined to detect the RNA or DNA of the viruses and M pneumoniae. A total of 406 swab samples were collected.