Methodological approaches to disinfection of human hepatitis B virus

Abstract

Three commercial disinfectants (two quaternary formulations and one phenolic) were tested against human hepatitis B virus (HHBV). The treated virus was assayed for infectivity by the chimpanzee assay and for morphological alteration by the Morphological Alteration and Disintegration Test. The same agents were tested against duck hepatitis B virus in a duck hepatocyte infectivity assay. It is apparent that human and duck hepatitis viruses were relatively susceptible to disinfection, becoming noninfectious after < or = 10 min of contact with the disinfectant. The Morphological Alteration and Disintegration Test accurately predicted activity in the two infectivity tests. The anti-human hepatitis B virus effect of the low-level quaternary ammonium germicides is a novel finding and suggest that members of the family Hepadnaviridae are relatively susceptible to chemical agents.

Is hepatitis B-virucidal validation of biocides possible with the use of surrogates?

“…This has no bearing on the ability of disinfectants to abolish infectivity of the viruses [53] . Furthermore, the DHBV model has similar disinfectant inactivation kinetics to those observed in the limited studies of HBV transmission in chimpanzees [31,54] . Thus, DHBV infectivity tests have been used for testing the virucidal activity of chemical biocides against HBV in the United States and Australia [54][55][56][57] and have been proposed in Europe [58] .…”

“…However, the in vitro propagation of non-cytopathogenic HBV is difficult, especially in obtaining human liver cells. Historically, the virucidal efficacy of biocides has been stringently determined in vivo through the use of chimpanzee infection assays, albeit with decreased sensitivity [30][31][32][33][34] . Currently, animal protection and economic reasons prohibit the use of higher primates for routine tests of commercial products [35] .…”

Preventing the spread of hepatitis B and C viruses: Where are germicides relevant?

“…HBV is not as resistant to germicides as was once believed, 60,61 and very limited testing in the past few years suggests that even relatively weak virucidal chemicals (such as quaternary ammonium compounds) can inactivate it. 61,62 This applies to HCV as well.…”

“…HBV is not as resistant to germicides as was once believed, 60,61 and very limited testing in the past few years suggests that even relatively weak virucidal chemicals (such as quaternary ammonium compounds) can inactivate it. 61,62 This applies to HCV as well. The obvious limitation to a more thorough evaluation of germicides against these viruses is the inability to culture them in vitro; to date, no standards-setting organization anywhere in the world has established any methods or guidelines for the testing of chemical germicides against HBV and HCV.…”

“…64,65 Subsequent studies confirmed this. 51,61 Table 1 summarizes the findings of representative studies that were based on the chimpanzee model and HBV inactivation by chemical germicides.…”