Risk factors for norovirus infection in healthcare workers during nosocomial outbreaks: a cross-sectional study

Table 1 Questionnaire response and rectal swab sampling in healthcare workers during nosocomial outbreaks of norovirus in seven hospital wards: compliance and real-time detection of norovirus genogroup II

Hospital ward				Return of questionnaires and rectal swabs among health care workers
Buil- ding	Ward	Floor	Care unit	Packs issu-ed^b	Packs returned (%)	Response Time^c Range (median)	NoV GII^a Positive (%)	NoV GII^a Ct^d range (median)
A	A1	5th	Haematology^e	41	19 (46%)	6–33 (18)	0	“– “
A	A2	5th	Medicine^e	30	15 (50%)	5–21 (8)	0	“–“
B	B1	7th	Geriatric medicine	58	22 (38%(	2–28 (6)	1 (4.5%)	37
B	B2	6th	Geriatric orthopedy	52	26 (50%)^f	7–13 (7.5)	9 (35%)	25–35 (28)
B	B3	6th	Geriatric medicine	48	16 (33%)	9–20 (11.5)	1 (6.3%)	35
C	C1	6th	Dementia	51	14 (27%)	6–11 (7)	7 (50%)	23–31 (30)
C	C2	4th	Substance abuse and dementia	28	17 (61%)	6–14 (8)	8 (47%)	22–34 (30)
All				308	129 (42%)	2–33 (8)	26 (20%)	22–37 (30)

^aNoV GII: Norovirus genogroup II detection in real-time RT-PCR assays for NoV GI, GII, adenovirus, astrovirus, rotavirus, and sapovirus
^bSample packs: Q and swab for rectal sampling
^cResponse time: days taken to return sample packs containing completed Q for statistical analyses, and RS for viral analysis
^dCt: cycle threshold value in NoV GII specific real-time RT-PCR assay, the lower the Ct value the higher the viral load
^eInterconnected wards: shared dining-room and shower facilities
^fTwo HCWs returned incomplete packs, these workers were excluded from the study

ISSN: 2047-2994