Surface area matters: An evaluation of swabs and surface area for environmental surface sampling of healthcare pathogens

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.