Resistance of surface-dried virus to common disinfection procedures.

0.1 N NaOH and 0.1% hypochlorite were studied for their capacity to inactivate surface-dried lipid-enveloped (LE) [human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) and pseudorabies virus (PRV)] and non-lipid-enveloped [NLE; canine parvovirus (CPV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV)] viruses in a background of either plasma or culturemedium. In addition, 80% ethanol was tested on surface-dried LE viruses. Without treatment, surface-dried LE viruses remained infectious for at least one week and NLE viruses for more than one month. Irrespective of the disinfectant, inactivation decreased for viruses dried in plasma, which is more representative of viral contaminated blood. Inactivation by all disinfectants improved when preceded by rehydration, although infectivity of CPV actually increased after rehydration. Journal of Hospital Infection 2007;66:332-8.