Journal
FOOD AND ENVIRONMENTAL VIROLOGY
Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 175-181Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s12560-014-9158-0
Keywords
Lodging; Hygiene; Viral transmission; Disinfection
Funding
- Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The goals of this study were to observe the spread of viruses in a hotel setting and to assess the effectiveness of a hygiene intervention in reducing their spread. Selected fomites in one hotel room were inoculated with bacteriophage I center dot x-174, and fomites in a conference center within the same hotel were inoculated using bacteriophage MS2. Cleaning of the contaminated room resulted in the spread of viruses to other rooms by the housekeeping staff. Furthermore, viruses were transferred by hotel guests to the conference center and a communal kitchen area. Additionally, conference attendees transferred viruses from the conference center to their hotel rooms and a communal kitchen area. This study demonstrated how viruses can be spread throughout a hotel setting by both housekeepers and guests. A hygiene intervention, which included providing hand hygiene products and facial tissues to the guests and disinfecting solutions with disposable wipes to the housekeeping staff, was successful in reducing the spread of viruses between the hotel guest rooms and conference center. The hygiene intervention resulted in significantly reduced transfer of the I center dot x-174 between the contaminated hotel room and other hotel rooms, communal areas, and the conference center (p = 0.02).
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available