AANEM Connect

I have a question regarding an issue that came up recently and would appreciate any and all thoughts.

 We had a consult to perform a bilateral facial nerve study (NCV/ENOG & needle EMG) on a patient with active TB for “immediate surgical intervention purposes” in an isolation negative pressure room.  Appropriate medication had just been started but no idea if it is/will be effective or if the patient will be resistant.

 The concern is regarding taking our EDX equipment into the room with respect to multiple fans running in the laptop/base unit.  Clearly any beasties in the air will potentially be sucked into the machine, possibly become lodged in there for some time; then when we take our instrument out of the room and back to the outpatient clinic there is a potential for blowing out nasties into the clinic.  This seems like a setup for a potential “hot zone” of community based contamination. 

 The hospital’s “infection control” are not concerned in the least and state that “machines” go into and out of those rooms all the time and into an adjacent room or ICU rooms “without issue”.  To be sure, this is true.  For example those portable X-ray units go all over the hospital from a TB room, to a Covid room, then into an possibly immunocompromised patient’s room without concern.  I am not aware if those portable X-ray units have removable HEPA filters or not;  I doubt it.  It’s the “without issue” that bothers me.  There are no studies I am aware of that have swabbed machines or rooms to ensure there is no cross contamination “issues”.

 I know our EDX instruments are running fans and there are no filters of any kind on the vents for the base unit or computers.  Having changed both batteries and memory drives I know most computers with some exceptions have fans running in them (laptops PCs/Macs) and for sure tower units have fans.

I would have thought with the recent CoVid issues that someone would have a concern or policy regarding this issue.  I am not aware of any EDX manufacturer that has a policy or recommendation as to this issue.  Also, I do not think the AANEM has a policy or SOP for this type of scenario.  It’s probably not a good idea to douse the instrument’s internals with a fluid disinfectant risking electrical issues or voiding the manufacturer’s warranty.

In short given the above scenario and no doubt other scenarios, is there a concern here or is this in the line of what the great Bard once said, “Much Ado About Nothing”?  Maybe it is just me that has an unwarranted concern and it is well known and documented that these instruments are NOT a potential source for disease spread.  Appreciate any thoughts.