Efficacy of hospital germicides against adenovirus 8, a common cause of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis in health care facilities

The inactivation of virus-contaminated nonporous inanimate surfaces was investigated using adenovirus type 8, a common cause of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis. Twenty-one different germicides (including disinfectants and antiseptics) were selected for this study based on their current uses in healthcare. After a 1- or 5-minute exposure to 50 microl of the germicide, the virus-germicide test mixture was neutralised and assayed for infectivity. Only five disinfectants proved to be effective against the test virus at 1 min. Four other disinfectants showed effectiveness under four of the five testing conditions. Of the germicides suitable for use as an antiseptic, 70% ethanol achieved a 3-log10 reduction under four of the five test conditions. These results emphasise the need for proper selection of germicides for use in disinfecting noncritical surfaces and semi-critical medical devices (such as applanation tonometers) in order to prevent outbreaks of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2006;50(4):1419-24.