Recruiting

HEPA Cleaners

Sponsor:

Massachusetts General Hospital

Code:

NCT05953233

Conditions

Viral Infection

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 6 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Active classroom HEPA cleaner

Sham classroom HEPA cleaner

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to test the efficacy of high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) cleaners in reducing respiratory viral exposure and infections in elementary school classrooms. Classrooms will be randomized to active vs. sham HEPA cleaners. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Do classroom HEPA cleaners reduce exposure to viruses?
  • Do classroom HEPA cleaners reduce student and teacher infections?
  • Do classroom HEPA cleaners reduce infections in family members?

Conditions

Viral Infection

Study ID

NCT05953233

Start date

Sep 15, 2024

Status verified date

Dec, 2025

Completion date

Aug, 2030

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Aug, 2029

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 6 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

Children

  • Grades K-5 (age 6-12 years)
  • Attend one of the schools that the study team has permission to obtain classroom/school environmental samples
  • Have no plans to move schools within the upcoming 12 months
  • Subject and/or parent guardian must be able to understand and provide informed consent and also willing to participate in the study

Adults

  • Adult (age 21 or older) parent, caretaker, or household member of child participating in this study, or teacher in classroom participating in study
  • Able to understand and provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

Children

  • Contraindication to or inability to participate in home self-collection of nasal swab samples
  • Severe chronic diseases (e.g. cancer, genetic or congenital disorders interfering with mobility)
  • Severe neurobehavioral, neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorders requiring special assistance
  • Families who do not speak English or Spanish well enough to complete the survey questions, as validated versions in other languages are not available for all of the measures

Adults

  • Contraindication to or inability to participate in home self-collection of nasal swab samples
  • Severe chronic diseases (e.g. cancer, genetic or congenital disorders interfering with mobility)
  • Severe neurobehavioral, neurodevelopmental or psychiatric disorders requiring special assistance
  • Families who do not speak English or Spanish well enough to complete the survey questions, as validated versions in other languages are not available for all of the measures

Study Design

Enrollment

200 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Active HEPA cleaner

Active HEPA cleaners will be placed in classrooms throughout the school year

placebo comparator: Sham HEPA cleaner

Sham HEPA cleaners will be placed in classrooms throughout the school year

Interventions

Active classroom HEPA cleaner

Commercially available portable HEPA cleaner

Sham classroom HEPA cleaner

Commercially available portable HEPA cleaner with filtration device removed

Primary outcome measure

  • Viral pathogen detected in upper respiratory sample [ Time Frame: 1 year ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Peggy Lai, MD MPH

617-875-9878plai@mgh.harvard.edu

Wanda Phipatanakul, MD MS

857-218-5336wanda.phipatanakul@childrens.harvard.edu

Locations

Mass General Brigham

Recruiting

Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114

More Information

Sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital

Last update posted

Dec 11, 2025

Last verified

Dec, 2025

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Massachusetts General Hospital on 2025-12-11.