Electronic Fans: A pathogen reservoir and potential cross-contamination source

Vance Bergeron*, Amine Metahni and Francis Derouin

With the recent outbreak of COVID-19 the concern for airborne pathogens has increased. It is clear now that taking preventative measures such as wearing masks and social distancing are important to abate the spread and transmission of airborne pathogens. It is also equally important to identify and minimize the different sources of both direct and cross-contamination. Here we identify one source that has thus far not been considered: electronic fans used to cool the electronic components in equipment used throughout our daily lives; computers, hospital instruments, and significantly airborne samplers. Airborne samplers used to evaluate airborne pathogens must have their fan air exiting the device filtered, otherwise the device itself can be an important source as different location are sampled, moving the pathogen load from one location to another.

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Published on: Oct 15, 2020 Pages: 23-24

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/ahcrr.000025
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