Cleaning Patient Shower Facilities: A Novel Approach to Reducing Patient Exposure to Aerosolized<i>Aspergillus</i>Species and Other Opportunistic Molds

Abstract

We previously have demonstrated that the hospital water-distribution system could be a reservoir for airborne molds that leads to secondary aerosolization of these molds in patient shower facilities. In this report, we show that cleaning the floors of patient shower facilities in a bone marrow transplantation unit reduced the mean air concentrations of molds, including Aspergillus species (from 12 cfu/m3 to 4 cfu/m3; P=.0047).