A membrane-based quantitative carrier test to assess the virucidal activity of disinfectants and persistence of viruses on porous fomites.
A membrane-based quantitative carrier test method to assess the virucidal activity of disinfectants and the persistence of viruses on fomites under different environmental conditions is described. The method is based on the inactivation of the virus adsorbed to cellulose ester membranes followed by the direct enumeration of the viruses surviving the treatment without the need of an elution step. The method was suitable for four different human enteroviruses tested. Experiments comparing the infectivity loss of human enteroviruses in suspension or adsorbed to the filters after treatment with chlorine and glutaraldehyde showed that the human enteroviruses tested suffered significantly greater log10 reductions when suspended than when adsorbed. Significant differences in the effect of the disinfectants on the various human enteroviruses tested were also observed. Moreover, the procedure allowed determining the inactivation of viruses on fomites under different environmental conditions. Low temperatures and high relative humidities favored the survival of human enteroviruses. Also, viruses adsorbed to the membranes retained their infectivity frozen at -70 degrees C for more than 1 year, thus providing the possibility of preparing very simple reference materials for testing virucidal activities of antiseptics and disinfectants.
Department of Microbiology, School of Biology, University of Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal 645, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain. laura.moce@sandoz.com
Laura
L
Mocé-Llivina
Georgios T
GT
Papageorgiou
Juan
J
Jofre
D000327:Adsorption; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D002713:Chlorine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004770:Enterovirus / Q000187:drug effects*; D005976:Glutaral / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D013696:Temperature; D010948:Viral Plaque Assay; D038301:Virus Inactivation
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D004202:Disinfectants; C005062:acetylcellulose; D002713:Chlorine; D002482:Cellulose; D005976:Glutaral