title: Buffer AVL Alone Does Not Inactivate Ebola Virus in a Representative Clinical Sample Type.
abstract: Rapid inactivation of Ebola virus (EBOV) is crucial for high-throughput testing of clinical samples in low-resource, outbreak scenarios. The EBOV inactivation efficacy of Buffer AVL (Qiagen) was tested against marmoset serum (EBOV concentration of 1 × 10(8) 50% tissue culture infective dose per milliliter [TCID50 · ml(-1)]) and murine blood (EBOV concentration of 1 × 10(7) TCID50 · ml(-1)) at 4:1 vol/vol buffer/sample ratios. Posttreatment cell culture and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analysis indicated that treatment with Buffer AVL did not inactivate EBOV in 67% of samples, indicating that Buffer AVL, which is designed for RNA extraction and not virus inactivation, cannot be guaranteed to inactivate EBOV in diagnostic samples. Murine blood samples treated with ethanol (4:1 [vol/vol] ethanol/sample) or heat (60°C for 15 min) also showed no viral inactivation in 67% or 100% of samples, respectively. However, combined Buffer AVL and ethanol or Buffer AVL and heat treatments showed total viral inactivation in 100% of samples tested. The Buffer AVL plus ethanol and Buffer AVL plus heat treatments were also shown not to affect the extraction of PCR quality RNA from EBOV-spiked murine blood samples.
authors.affiliation: CBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom sjsmither@dstl.gov.uk.
authors.forename: Sophie J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Smither
authors.affiliation: CBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Simon A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Weller
authors.affiliation: CBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Phelps
authors.affiliation: CBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Eastaugh
authors.affiliation: CBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ngugi
authors.affiliation: CBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lyn M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.affiliation: CBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jackie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steward
authors.affiliation: CBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Steve G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lonsdale
authors.affiliation: CBR Division, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lever
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood / Q000821:virology; D002021:Buffers; D002144:Callithrix; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D029043:Ebolavirus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D000431:Ethanol; D051379:Mice; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000187:drug effects*; D038301:Virus Inactivation / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D002021:Buffers; D004202:Disinfectants; D000431:Ethanol