title: The healthy workplace project: Reduced viral exposure in an office setting.
abstract: Viral illnesses such as gastroenteritis and the common cold create a substantial burden in the workplace due to reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, and increased health care costs. Behaviors in the workplace contribute to the spread of human viruses via direct contact between hands, contaminated surfaces, and the mouth, eyes, and/or nose. This study assessed whether implementation of the Healthy Workplace Project (HWP) (providing hand sanitizers, disinfecting wipes, facial tissues, and use instructions) would reduce viral loads in an office setting of approximately 80 employees after seeding fomites and the hands of volunteer participants with an MS-2 phage tracer. The HWP significantly reduced viable phage detected on participants' hands, communal fomites, and personal fomites (p ≤ .010) in office environments and presents a cost-effective method for reducing the health and economic burden associated with viral illnesses in the workplace.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Environmental Health Sciences , Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona , Tucson , Arizona , USA.|b Department of Soil , Water and Environmental Science, The University of Arizona , Tucson , Arizona , USA.
authors.forename: Kelly A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.affiliation: a Department of Environmental Health Sciences , Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona , Tucson , Arizona , USA.
authors.forename: Paloma I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Beamer
authors.affiliation: a Department of Environmental Health Sciences , Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona , Tucson , Arizona , USA.
authors.forename: Kevin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Plotkin
authors.affiliation: b Department of Soil , Water and Environmental Science, The University of Arizona , Tucson , Arizona , USA.
authors.forename: Laura Y
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Sifuentes
authors.affiliation: c Corporate Research & Engineering, Kimberly-Clark Corporation , Neenah , Wisconsin , USA.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Koenig
authors.affiliation: b Department of Soil , Water and Environmental Science, The University of Arizona , Tucson , Arizona , USA.
authors.forename: Charles P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Gerba
mesh_terms: D004866:Equipment Contamination; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014780:Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017132:Workplace
keywords: Fomite contamination; indoor pathogen transmission; office workers; workplace illness