Transfer efficiency of an enveloped virus, human coronavirus 229E, from various hard surface fomites to finger pads of the hands

Author(s):  
Charles P. Gerba ◽  
Brianna M. Leija ◽  
Luisa A. Ikner ◽  
Patricia Gundy ◽  
William A. Rutala

Abstract Respiratory viruses can be transmitted by fomite contact, but no data currently exist on the transfer of enveloped viruses. The transfer efficiency of human coronavirus from various hard surfaces ranged from 0.46% to 49.0%. This information can be used to model the fomite transmission of enveloped viruses.

mBio ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Warnes ◽  
Zoë R. Little ◽  
C. William Keevil

ABSTRACTThe evolution of new and reemerging historic virulent strains of respiratory viruses from animal reservoirs is a significant threat to human health. Inefficient human-to-human transmission of zoonotic strains may initially limit the spread of transmission, but an infection may be contracted by touching contaminated surfaces. Enveloped viruses are often susceptible to environmental stresses, but the human coronaviruses responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) have recently caused increasing concern of contact transmission during outbreaks. We report here that pathogenic human coronavirus 229E remained infectious in a human lung cell culture model following at least 5 days of persistence on a range of common nonbiocidal surface materials, including polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon; PTFE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ceramic tiles, glass, silicone rubber, and stainless steel. We have shown previously that noroviruses are destroyed on copper alloy surfaces. In this new study, human coronavirus 229E was rapidly inactivated on a range of copper alloys (within a few minutes for simulated fingertip contamination) and Cu/Zn brasses were very effective at lower copper concentration. Exposure to copper destroyed the viral genomes and irreversibly affected virus morphology, including disintegration of envelope and dispersal of surface spikes. Cu(I) and Cu(II) moieties were responsible for the inactivation, which was enhanced by reactive oxygen species generation on alloy surfaces, resulting in even faster inactivation than was seen with nonenveloped viruses on copper. Consequently, copper alloy surfaces could be employed in communal areas and at any mass gatherings to help reduce transmission of respiratory viruses from contaminated surfaces and protect the public health.IMPORTANCERespiratory viruses are responsible for more deaths globally than any other infectious agent. Animal coronaviruses that “host jump” to humans result in severe infections with high mortality, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and, more recently, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). We show here that a closely related human coronavirus, 229E, which causes upper respiratory tract infection in healthy individuals and serious disease in patients with comorbidities, remained infectious on surface materials common to public and domestic areas for several days. The low infectious dose means that this is a significant infection risk to anyone touching a contaminated surface. However, rapid inactivation, irreversible destruction of viral RNA, and massive structural damage were observed in coronavirus exposed to copper and copper alloy surfaces. Incorporation of copper alloy surfaces in conjunction with effective cleaning regimens and good clinical practice could help to control transmission of respiratory coronaviruses, including MERS and SARS.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan T Evangelista

UNSTRUCTURED The seasonality of influenza viruses and endemic human coronaviruses was tracked over an 8-year period to assess key epidemiologic reduction points in disease incidence for an urban area in the northeast United States. Patients admitted to a pediatric hospital with worsening respiratory symptoms were tested using a multiplex PCR assay from nasopharyngeal swabs. The additive seasonal effects of outdoor temperatures and indoor relative humidity (RH) were evaluated. The 8-year average peak activity of human coronaviruses occurred in the first week of January, when droplet and contact transmission was enabled by the low indoor RH of 20-30%. Previous studies have shown that an increase in RH to 50% has been associated with markedly reduced viability and transmission of influenza virus and animal coronaviruses. As disease incidence was reduced by 50% in early March, to 75% in early April, to greater than 99% at the end of April, a relationship was observed from colder temperatures in January with a low indoor RH to a gradual increase in outdoor temperatures in April with an indoor RH of 45-50%. As a lipid-bound, enveloped virus with similar size characteristics to endemic human coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 should be subject to the same dynamics of reduced viability and transmission with increased humidity. In addition to the major role of social distancing, the transition from lower to higher indoor RH with increasing outdoor temperatures could have an additive effect on the decrease in SARS-CoV-2 cases in May. Over the 8-year period of this study, human coronavirus activity was either zero or >99% reduction in the months of June through September, and the implication would be that SARS-Cov-2 may follow a similar pattern. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.15.20103416


BMC Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andra Waagmeester ◽  
Egon L. Willighagen ◽  
Andrew I. Su ◽  
Martina Kutmon ◽  
Jose Emilio Labra Gayo ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Pandemics, even more than other medical problems, require swift integration of knowledge. When caused by a new virus, understanding the underlying biology may help finding solutions. In a setting where there are a large number of loosely related projects and initiatives, we need common ground, also known as a “commons.” Wikidata, a public knowledge graph aligned with Wikipedia, is such a commons and uses unique identifiers to link knowledge in other knowledge bases. However, Wikidata may not always have the right schema for the urgent questions. In this paper, we address this problem by showing how a data schema required for the integration can be modeled with entity schemas represented by Shape Expressions. Results As a telling example, we describe the process of aligning resources on the genomes and proteomes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and related viruses as well as how Shape Expressions can be defined for Wikidata to model the knowledge, helping others studying the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. How this model can be used to make data between various resources interoperable is demonstrated by integrating data from NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) Taxonomy, NCBI Genes, UniProt, and WikiPathways. Based on that model, a set of automated applications or bots were written for regular updates of these sources in Wikidata and added to a platform for automatically running these updates. Conclusions Although this workflow is developed and applied in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, to demonstrate its broader applicability it was also applied to other human coronaviruses (MERS, SARS, human coronavirus NL63, human coronavirus 229E, human coronavirus HKU1, human coronavirus OC4).


2021 ◽  
pp. 103780
Author(s):  
Madeleine Blondin-Brosseau ◽  
Jennifer Harlow ◽  
Tanushka Doctor ◽  
Neda Nasheri

1989 ◽  
Vol 35 (10) ◽  
pp. 972-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Lamarre ◽  
Pierre J. Talbot

The stability of human coronavirus 229E infectivity was maximum at pH 6.0 when incubated at either 4 or 33 °C. However, the influence of pH was more pronounced at 33 °C. Viral infectivity was completely lost after a 14-day incubation period at 22, 33, or 37 °C but remained relatively constant at 4 °C for the same length of time. Finally, the infectious titer did not show any significant reduction when subjected to 25 cycles of thawing and freezing. These studies will contribute to optimize virus growth and storage conditions, which will facilitate the molecular characterization of this important pathogen.Key words: coronavirus, pH, temperature, infectivity, human coronavirus.


Author(s):  
Thomas Labadie ◽  
Polly Roy

AbstractRecent developments on extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing multiple virus particles challenge the rigid definition of non-enveloped viruses. However, how non-enveloped viruses hijack cell machinery to promote non-lytic release in EVs, and their functional roles, remain to be clarified. Here we used Bluetongue virus (BTV) as a model of a non-enveloped arthropod-borne virus and observed that the majority of viruses are released in EVs, both in vitro and in the blood of infected animals. Based on the cellular proteins detected in these EVs, and use of inhibitors targeting the cellular degradation process, we demonstrated that these extracellular vesicles are derived from secretory lysosomes, in which the acidic pH is neutralized upon the infection. Moreover, we report that secreted EVs are more efficient than free-viruses for initiating infections, but that they trigger super-infection exclusion that only free-viruses can overcome.Author summaryRecent discoveries of non-enveloped virus secreted in EVs opened the door to new developments in our understanding of the transmission and pathogenicity of these viruses. In particular, how these viruses hijack the host cellular secretion machinery, and the role of these EVs compared with free-virus particles remained to be explored. Here, we tackled these two aspects, by studying BTV, an emerging arthropod-borne virus causing epidemics worldwide. We showed that this virus is mainly released in EVs, in vivo and in the blood of infected animals, and that inhibition of the cell degradation machinery decreases the release of infectious EVs, but not free-virus particles. We found that BTV must neutralize the pH of lysosomes, which are important organelles of the cell degradation machinery, for efficient virus release in EVs. Our results highlight unique features for a virus released in EVs, explaining how BTV transits in lysosomes without being degraded. Interestingly, we observed that EVs are more infectious than free-virus particles, but only free-viruses are able to overcome the super-infection exclusion, which is a common cellular defense mechanism. In conclusion, our study stresses the dual role played by both forms, free and vesicular, in the virus life cycle.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie Pannu ◽  
Susan Ciotti ◽  
Shyamala Ganesan ◽  
George Arida ◽  
Chad Costley ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of aerosolized droplets inhaled into the nose in the transmission of respiratory viral disease. Inactivating pathogenic viruses at the nasal port of entry may reduce viral loads, thereby reducing infection, transmission and spread. In this communication, we demonstrate safe and broad anti-viral activity of oil-in-water nanoemulsion (nanodroplet) formulation containing the potent antiseptic 0.13% Benzalkonium Chloride (NE-BZK). Results: We have demonstrated that NE-BZK exhibits broad-spectrum, long-lasting antiviral activity with >99.9% in vitro killing of enveloped viruses including SARS-CoV-2, human coronavirus, RSV, and influenza B. In vitro and ex-vivo studies demonstrated continued killing of >99.99% of human coronavirus with diluted NE-BZK and persistent for 8 hours post application, respectively. The repeated application of NE-BZK, twice daily for 2 weeks into rabbit nostrils demonstrated its safety with no nasal irritation. These findings demonstrate that formulating BZK into the proprietary nanodroplets offers a safe and effective antiviral and a significant addition to strategies to combat the spread of respiratory viral infectious diseases.


2015 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohei Matoba ◽  
Yoko Aoki ◽  
Shizuka Tanaka ◽  
Kazue Yahagi ◽  
Tsutomu Itagaki ◽  
...  

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