Comparative Virucidal Activities of Essential Oils and Alcohol-Based Solutions against Enveloped Virus Surrogates: In Vitro and In Silico Analyses

Abstract

The large-scale use of alcohol (OH)-based disinfectants to control pathogenic viruses is of great concern because of their side effects on humans and harmful impact on the environment. There is an urgent need to develop safe and environmentally friendly disinfectants. Essential oils (EOs) are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the FDA, and many exhibit strong antiviral efficacy against pathogenic human enveloped viruses. The present study investigated the virucidal disinfectant activity of solutions containing EO and OH against DENV-2 and CHIKV, which were used as surrogate viruses for human pathogenic enveloped viruses. The quantitative suspension test was used. A solution containing 12% EO + 10% OH reduced > 4.0 log10 TCID50 (100% reduction) of both viruses within 1 min of exposure. In addition, solutions containing 12% EO and 3% EO without OH reduced > 4.0 log10 TCID50 of both viruses after 10 min and 30 min of exposure, respectively. The binding affinities of 42 EO compounds and viral envelope proteins were investigated through docking analyses. Sesquiterpene showed the highest binding affinities (from −6.7 to −8.0 kcal/mol) with DENV-2 E and CHIKV E1-E2-E3 proteins. The data provide a first step toward defining the potential of EOs as disinfectants.

Assessing the virucidal activity of essential oils against feline calicivirus, a non-enveloped virus used as surrogate of norovirus

“…Following the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the demand for chemical disinfectants for personal hygiene or surface cleaning has grown considerably. Unfortunately, the immoderate use of disinfectants (i.e., bleach and alcohol), used as antimicrobials, poses serious threats to humans and the environment [ 35 ]. Inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption of alcohol in people below 12 years-old can induce intoxication with subsequent confusion, vomiting, and drowsiness.…”

“…As previously observed for antibiotics and antivirals, microbial resistance has been reported also for disinfectants [ 36 ]. Furthermore, the chemical compounds present in disinfectants, if released improperly into the environment, are harmful because they are highly polluting for fauna, flora, and sea [ 35 , 36 ].…”

In Vitro Virucidal Activity of Different Essential Oils against Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus Used as Surrogate of Human Hepatitis C Virus

“…Herbal preparations have been regarded safe for the environment and more tolerable for human health with respect to the antiviral pharmacological therapy, thus allowing us to expand the range of therapeutic tools against viral diseases [ 39 ]. Disinfectants based on natural resources have been tested effective against viral pathogens with comparable results observed with alcoholic-based formulations [ 40 ].…”