Implementation of Practical Surface SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance in School Settings

Surface sampling for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection has shown considerable promise to detect exposure of built environments to infected individuals shedding virus who would not otherwise be detected. Here, we compare two popular sampling media (VTM and SDS) and two popular workflows (Thermo and PerkinElmer) for implementation of a surface sampling program suitable for environmental monitoring in public schools. We find that the SDS/Thermo pipeline shows superior sensitivity and specificity, but that the VTM/PerkinElmer pipeline is still sufficient to support surface surveillance in any indoor setting with stable cohorts of occupants (e.g., schools, prisons, group homes, etc.) and may be used to leverage existing investments in infrastructure. IMPORTANCE The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of over 5 million people worldwide. Due to high density occupancy of indoor spaces for prolonged periods of time, schools are often of concern for transmission, leading to widespread school closings to combat pandemic spread when cases rise. Since pediatric clinical testing is expensive and difficult from a consent perspective, we have deployed surface sampling in SASEA (Safer at School Early Alert), which allows for detection of SARS-CoV-2 from surfaces within a classroom. In this previous work, we developed a high-throughput method which requires robotic automation and specific reagents that are often not available for public health laboratories such as the San Diego County Public Health Laboratory (SDPHL). Therefore, we benchmarked our method (Thermo pipeline) against SDPHL's (PerkinElmer) more widely used method for the detection and prediction of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. While our method shows superior sensitivity (false-negative rate of 9% versus 27% for SDPHL), the SDPHL pipeline is sufficient to support surface surveillance in indoor settings. These findings are important since they show that existing investments in infrastructure can be leveraged to slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2 not in just the classroom but also in prisons, nursing homes, and other high-risk, indoor settings.

Comparison of heat-inactivated and infectious SARS-CoV-2 across indoor surface materials shows comparable RT-qPCR viral signal intensity and persistence

Environmental monitoring in public spaces can be used to identify surfaces contaminated by persons with COVID-19 and inform appropriate infection mitigation responses. Research groups have reported detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on surfaces days or weeks after the virus has been deposited, making it difficult to estimate when an infected individual may have shed virus onto a SARS-CoV-2 positive surface, which in turn complicates the process of establishing effective quarantine measures. In this study, we determined that reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) detection of viral RNA from heat-inactivated particles experiences minimal decay over seven days of monitoring on eight out of nine surfaces tested. The properties of the studied surfaces result in RT-qPCR signatures that can be segregated into two material categories, rough and smooth, where smooth surfaces have a lower limit of detection. RT-qPCR signal intensity (average quantification cycle (Cq)) can be correlated to surface viral load using only one linear regression model per material category. The same experiment was performed with infectious viral particles on one surface from each category, with essentially identical results. The stability of RT-qPCR viral signal demonstrates the need to clean monitored surfaces after sampling to establish temporal resolution. Additionally, these findings can be used to minimize the number of materials and time points tested and allow for the use of heat-inactivated viral particles when optimizing environmental monitoring methods.

Expression of human neutrophil L-selectin during the systemic inflammatory response syndrome is partly mediated by tumor factor alpha

BACKGROUND

Rolling of neutrophils on the vascular endothelium is a requisite step to transmigration to areas of infection or inflammation, and this is regulated in part by the neutrophil cell adhesion molecule L-selectin.

OBJECTIVES

To compare L-selectin expression in patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and healthy age-matched control subjects and to determine whether tumor necrosis factor alpha modulates L-selectin expression on human neutrophils.

SETTING

A tertiary care surgical intensive care unit at a university teaching hospital.

SUBJECTS

Patients identified with SIRS (American College of Critical Care Physicians and Society of Critical Care Medicine criteria) were compared with healthy age-matched control subjects. Venous blood samples that were obtained from healthy laboratory control subjects were used to examine the time course of L-selectin expression.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Neutrophil L-selectin expression was determined by flow cytometry in patients with SIRS and control subjects. Tumor necrosis factor alpha concentrations were determined in blood and exudative fluid from patients with SIRS. Neutrophil L-selectin expression was measured during a 45-minute time course in the presence of recombinant human tumor necrosis factor alpha and N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine.

RESULTS

Circulating neutrophils from patients with SIRS had significantly less L-selectin expression than did control subjects. Tumor necrosis factor alpha at concentrations similar to those found in exudative fluid caused a dose- and time-dependent decrease in neutrophil L-selectin expression.

CONCLUSION

Tumor necrosis factor alpha may act as a paracrine modulator of site-specific neutrophil rolling, adhesion, and exudation via mechanisms that involve the down-regulation of L-selectin.

Exudative neutrophils. Modulation of microbicidal function in the inflammatory microenvironment

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether the inflammatory microenvironment primes neutrophils for increased microbicidal activity.

DESIGN

In vitro studies of host defense were performed on surgical patients.

SETTING

A tertiary care, university hospital.

PATIENTS

A volunteer sample of hospitalized preoperative, noninfected surgical patients.

INTERVENTION

Exudative neutrophils were collected from skin-blister chambers and functionally compared with circulating neutrophils.

METHODS

Flow cytometry was used to evaluate directly neutrophil microbicidal activity (using fluoresceinated Candida albicans), formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP)-induced superoxide production (using 123 dihydrorhodamine), and surface expression of CD11b, CD16, and the fMLP receptor. In vitro tumor necrosis factor alpha was used to determine the possibility and extent of further priming in both circulating and exudative neutrophils.

RESULTS

Exudative polymorphonuclear neutrophils have enhanced microbicidal activity, superoxide production, and expression of CD11b, CD16, and the fMLP receptor. Exogenous tumor necrosis factor was able to prime circulating neutrophils but did not further augment superoxide production in exudative neutrophils.

CONCLUSION

The microbicidal activity of neutrophils is enhanced after exudation and is associated with neutrophil priming. The inability of exogenous tumor necrosis factor to further augment superoxide production after exudation suggests that this priming has been maximized.

Anergic patients before elective surgery have enhanced nonspecific host-defense capacity

Albeit anergy in patients before surgery is associated with an increase in septic-related complications and mortality, it is not clear whether this is due to a downregulated nonspecific host defense or a specific cellular immune defect. We studied polymorphonuclear leukocyte neutrophil (PMN) function in 14 patients who were admitted for elective surgery and compared them with 5 healthy controls. At admission, patients were classified according to their delayed-type hypersensitivity skin test response into reactive or anergic groups. In vivo PMN delivery to skin windows, the plasma lactoferrin level, serum and skin window fluid chemoattractant activity, and in vitro superoxide production were measured. Compared with reactive patients, anergic patients showed an increased cell delivery (8.7 x 10(6) PMNs per well vs 1.6 x 10(6) PMNs per well), an increased plasma lactoferrin level (4.4 +/- 1.5 mg/L vs 3.1 +/- 0.8 mg/L), an increased chemoattractant capacity of serum and skin window fluid (38 +/- 21 cells per high-power field vs 16.8 +/- 7.2 cells per high-power field), and an increased superoxide production. We concluded that nonspecific host defense, as reflected by PMNs, is enhanced in anergic patients before surgery and may not explain the increased susceptibility to infection.

Estimating mortality risk in preoperative patients using immunologic, nutritional, and acute-phase response variables

We measured the delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin test response, along with additional variables of host immunocompetence in 245 preoperative patients to determine which variables are associated with septic-related deaths following operation. Of the 14 deaths (5.7%), 12 were related to sepsis and in 2 sepsis was contributory. The DTH response (p less than 0.00001), age (p less than 0.0002), serum albumin (p less than 0.003), hemoglobin (p less than 0.02), and total hemolytic complement (p less than 0.03), were significantly different between those who died and those who lived. By logistic regression analysis, only the DTH skin test response (log likelihood = 41.7, improvement X2 = 6.24, p less than 0.012) and the serum albumin (log likelihood = 44.8, improvement X2 = 17.7, p less than 0.001) were significantly and independently associated with the deaths. The resultant probability of mortality calculation equation was tested in a separate validation group of 519 patients (mortality = 5%) and yielded a good predictive capability as assessed by (1) X2 = 0.08 between observed and expected deaths, NS; (2) Goodman-Kruskall G statistic = 0.673) Receiver-Operating-Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis with an area under the ROC curve, Az = 0.79 +/- 0.05. We conclude that a reduced immune response (DTH skin test anergy) plus a nutritional deficit and/or acute-phase response change are both associated with increased septic-related deaths in elective surgical patients.

Fatty acid supply and organ phospholipid turnover in two canine shock models

Serum free fatty acid (FFA) flux is decreased in shock. The question arose whether the limited availability of FFA would result in a fuel deficit in organs containing no stored lipid and also in the slower turnover of organ phospholipids. The fasting dog's lung, stomach, heart, and liver contained little or no triglyceride, while skeletal muscle, diaphragm, and occasionally intestine had large lipid stores. The replacement rate of lipid fuels and the turnover rate of the fatty acyl moieties of phospholipids were determined by radioactive tracer methods in several organs of dogs in shock due to controlled cardiac tamponade or hemorrhage and their respective controls. In the normotensive controls one-third of the FFA available was directly oxidized; the rest was temporarily incorporated into phospholipids and triglycerides. This incorporation represents replacement of lipid fuels in the organs. Both shock models caused a similar decrease in the total FFA flux and a similar pattern of redistribution among organs. Organs other than heart, lung, and diaphragm replenished their lipid stores slowly in shock. This could cause a fuel deficit in liver and stomach, neither of which have large triglyceride stores. FFA incorporation into phospholipids was slower than esterification into triglycerides in all organs except diaphragm and skeletal muscle both in shock and in normotension. The rate of phospholipid turnover decreased significantly in shock in liver, intestine, and stomach, but increased in heart and lung. Thus liver and stomach are the organs most likely to be affected by the decreased availability of FFA in shock.