Preventing the airborne spread of Staphylococcus aureus by persons with the common cold: effect of surgical scrubs, gowns, and masks.
OBJECTIVE
Transmission of Staphylococcus aureus via air may play an important role in healthcare settings. This study investigates the impact of barrier precautions on the spread of airborne S. aureus by volunteers with experimentally induced rhinovirus infection (ie, the common cold).


METHODS
Prospective nonrandomized study.


METHODS
Wake Forest University School of Medicine (Winston-Salem, NC).Participants. A convenience sample of 10 individuals with nasal S. aureus carriage selected from 593 students screened for carriage.


METHODS
Airborne S. aureus dispersal was studied in the 10 participants under the following clothing conditions: street clothes, surgical scrubs, surgical scrubs and a gown, and the latter plus a face mask. After a 4-day baseline period, volunteers were exposed to a rhinovirus, and their clinical course was followed for 12 days. Daily swabs of nasal specimens, pharynx specimens, and skin specimens were obtained for quantitative culture, and cold symptoms were documented. Data were analyzed by random-effects negative binomial models.


RESULTS
All participants developed a common cold. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) indicated that, compared with airborne levels of S. aureus during sessions in which street clothes were worn, airborne levels decreased by 75% when surgical scrubs were worn (P<.001), by 80% when scrubs and a surgical gown were worn (P<.001), and by 82% when scrubs, a gown, and a face mask were worn (P<.001). The addition of a mask to the surgical scrubs and gown did not reduce the airborne dispersal significantly (IRR, 0.92; P>.05). Male volunteers shed twice as much S. aureus as females (incidence rate ratio, 2.04; P=.013). The cold did not alter the efficacy of the barrier precautions.


CONCLUSIONS
Scrubs reduced the spread of airborne S. aureus, independent of the presence of a rhinovirus-induced cold. Airborne dispersal of S. aureus during sessions in which participants wore surgical scrubs was not significantly different from that during sessions in which gowns and gowns plus masks were also worn.
Bischoff
Werner E
WE
Section on Infectious Diseases, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. wbischof@wfubmc.edu
Tucker
Brian K
BK
Wallis
Michelle L
ML
Reboussin
Beth A
BA
Pfaller
Michael A
MA
Hayden
Frederick G
FG
Sherertz
Robert J
RJ
D000328:Adult; D000391:Air Microbiology; D002353:Carrier State / Q000635:transmission*; D003139:Common Cold / Q000150:complications*; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods; D003371:Cough; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D052638:Particulate Matter; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011481:Protective Clothing; D012912:Sneezing; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus