Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara as a Potential Biosafety Level 2 Surrogate for African Swine Fever Virus in Disinfectant Efficacy Tests

Abstract

In South Korea, despite the increase in emerging viral pathogens in the veterinary industry, only efficacy-tested, virus-specific disinfectants are allowed to be used. Moreover, domestic testing of disinfectants for their virucidal efficacies against foreign, malignant, infectious pathogens that are unreported within the country and/or contagious livestock diseases that require special attention regarding public hygiene are legally restricted. Therefore, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA) designed a study to select a potential biosafety level 2 surrogate of African swine fever virus (ASFV) for efficacy testing to improve the disinfectant approval procedures. For this, the modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) was compared to ASFV in terms of its susceptibility to disinfectants. Effective concentrations of active substances of disinfectants (potassium peroxymonosulfate, sodium dichloroisocyanurate, malic acid, citric acid, glutaraldehyde, and benzalkonium chloride) against ASFV and MVA were compared; similarly, efficacies of APQA-listed commercial disinfectants were examined. Tests were performed according to APQA guidelines, and infectivities of ASFV and MVA were confirmed by hemadsorption and cytopathic effect, respectively. The results reveal that the disinfectants are effective against MVA at similar or higher concentrations than those against ASFV, validating the use of MVA as a potential biosafety level 2 surrogate for ASFV in efficacy testing of veterinary disinfectants.

Surrogate Selection for Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus in Disinfectant Efficacy Tests by Simultaneous Comparison of Bacteriophage MS2 and Bovine Enterovirus Type 1

“…T5In South Korea, veterinary disinfectants are regulated by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA), and the agency currently has a system to review and register label claims of the formulations and recommended concentrations against the target microorganisms according to its guidelines for efficacy testing of veterinary disinfectants [7,8]. However, testing of disinfectants against FMDV can be conducted only in high-level containment laboratories, which are not easily available.…”

“…Additionally, the required biosafety level (BSL) for FMDV has hindered its extensive studies. The APQA guidelines have approved the use of surrogate organism for claims of activity against bacteria [7]; however, this does not apply to viruses, and testing is required against each virus to be listed on the product label [8]. Therefore, the use of a surrogate for FMDV in chemical disinfectant testing has been suggested.…”

“…A surrogate has many characteristics which make it an ideal model for experimentation, such as easy to culture and handle, capable of reaching high virus titers, high levels of stability, etc. [8,9]. The major benefit of using a nonpathogenic surrogate is its requirement of a lower BSL than that for the actual pathogen [8].…”

“…The major benefit of using a nonpathogenic surrogate is its requirement of a lower BSL than that for the actual pathogen [8]. In laboratory studies, the use of surrogates for disinfection testing and data based on testing with the surrogates are preferred while developing models of such highly infectious pathogens requiring studies on high-level containment [8,[10][11][12]. This is because large-volume surrogate testing can be conducted and subsequently confirmed with small-volume infectious pathogen testing [13].…”

Inactivation of Highly Transmissible Livestock and Avian Viruses Including Influenza A and Newcastle Disease Virus for Molecular Diagnostics

“…ASFV is the only member of the Asfarviridae family, making surrogate selection a challenge. To address this, we utilized species-relevant swinepox virus and the genetically similar virus, vaccinia virus [25][26][27]. Both swinepox and vaccinia virus are members of the Poxvirus family and like Asfarviridae, are nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV) that share a common ancestor [28].…”