Eligibility of Feline Calicivirus for a Surrogate of Human Norovirus in Comparison with Murine Norovirus, Poliovirus and Coxsackievirus

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Feline calicivirus (FCV) is frequently used as a surrogate of human norovirus. We investigated eligibility of FCV for anti-viral assay by investigating the stability of infectivity and pH sensitivity in comparison with other viruses. We found that infectivities of FCV and murine norovirus (MNV) are relatively unstable in infected cells compared with those of coxsackievirus (CoV) and poliovirus (PoV) , suggesting that FCV and MNV have vulnerability. Western blotting indicated that inactivation of FCV was not due to viral protein degradation. We also demonstrated sensitivity of FCV to low pH, the 50% inhibitory pH value being ca. 3.9. Since human norovirus is thought to persist longer, in infectivity and to be a resistant virus, CoV, which is robust and not restrained in use as PoV, may be more appropriate as a test virus for disinfectants, rather than FCV and MNV.