Background: The emergence of COVID-19 has become a global health emergency. The transmissibility of the disease is of great interest to healthcare workers and scientists alike. The primary route of transmission is via respiratory droplets, but viral RNA has also been found in feces and body fluids such as urine, serum, and semen. So far, there has been no report on whether SARS-CoV-2 is present in the exudates of cutaneous lesions. This study was designed to investigate whether SARS-CoV-2 can be found in the pressure injury exudates in patients with severe COVID-19 infections.
Methods: 46 critically ill COVID-19 patients who were admitted to the ICU of the Sino-French New City Branch of Tongji Hospital in Wuhan between February 4 and April 12 developed pressure injuries. 22 patients with pressure injuries had wound exudates. Wound and pharyngeal swabs of the 22 patients were collected and RT-PCRs were conducted to detect SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA.
Results: At the time of pressure injury, 5 patients still tested positive by pharyngeal swabs, the rest of the 17 patients tested negative. However, none of the wound exudate swabs from the participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR.
Conclusion: Our study suggests that it is rather unlikely that COVID-19 can be transmitted via pressure injury exudates, but we still recommend standardized personal protective equipment, face shield and an additional pair of gloves when treating pressure injuries.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; pressure injury; wound exudates.
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