Virucidal activity of WHO-recommended formulations against enveloped viruses including Zika, Ebola and emerging Coronaviruses

A Siddharta, S Pfaender, Na Jane Vielle, R Dijkman, M Friesland, B Becker, J Yang, M Engelmann, D Todt, MP Windisch, FHH Brill, J Steinmann, J Steinmann, S Becker, MP Alves, T Pietschmann, M Eickmann, V Thiel, E Steinmann

The Journal of Infectious Diseases, J Infect Dis (2017) jix046, PMID: 28158346, DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jix046 [Epub ahead of print], Published: 01 February 2017

The World Health Organization (WHO) published two alcohol-based formulations to be used in healthcare settings and outbreak-associated infections, but inactivation efficacies of these products have not been determined against (re-) emerging viruses. In this study, we evaluated the virucidal activity of these WHO products in a comparative analysis. Zika virus (ZIKV), Ebola virus (EBOV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) as (re-) emerging viral pathogens and other enveloped viruses could be efficiently inactivated by both WHO formulations implicating their use in healthcare systems and viral outbreak situations.