Replacement of poliovirus as test virus for efficacy evaluation of disinfection

FHH Brill, KM Roesch, N Capelli, B Becker, M Cavalleri, M Eggers, J Gebel, ST Loeffert, C Rubrecht, S Pahl, J Weber, K Konrat, M Lee, F Licitra, N Salez, K Steinhauer, C Roques, C Hildebrandt

18th Congress for General and Hospital Hygiene (DGKH Congress 2026) | Poster without presentation | Poster exhibition //// 18. Kongress für Allgemeine und Krankenhaushygiene (DGKH-Kongress 2026) | Poster ohne Vortrag | Posterausstellung

Introduction & Aim: As part of its global eradication programme, the WHO aims to eliminate the poliovirus from testing procedures altogether. For this reason, it will only be available as a test virus for European standard testing of disinfectants for a limited period of time. Working Group 5 (WG5) of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN/TC216) organised a ring test in collaboration with the Association for Applied Hygiene (VAH) to identify an alternative to the poliovirus. Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) strain Hungary and coxsackie virus B5 (CVB5), which are both in the same family of picornaviruses, were selected as potential alternatives for the ring test.