Surface area matters: An evaluation of swabs and surface area for environmental surface sampling of healthcare pathogens.
Rolieria M West-DeadwylerAlicia M ShamsMonica Y ChanLaura J RoseJudith A Noble-WangPublished in: Infection control and hospital epidemiology (2022)
Flocked and foam swabs were used to sample five healthcare pathogens from three sizes of steel and plastic coupons; 26 cm 2 , 323 cm 2 , and 645 cm 2 . As surface area increased, 1-2 log 10 decrease in recovered organisms ( P < .05) was observed. Sampling 26-cm 2 yielded the optimal median percent of pathogens recovered.