2016 Volume 31 Issue 5 Pages 310-313
Reliability of a commercially available chemical product sold in Japan that claims to inactivate viruses by releasing chlorine dioxide gas was investigated. The viral fluid of influenza A/Aichi/2/68 strain virus propagated in the allantoic fluid of fertilized chicken eggs was atomized by a nebulizer in a 1.8 cubic meter-space closed environment, with the temperature and relative humidity set at about 23℃ and 30%, respectively, which resemble room conditions during the winter season. The concentration of the gas was manually adjusted at about 0.03–0.04 ppm by opening and closing the bottle cap. After a specified time, 80 L of air was sampled and filtered through a gelatin filter to trap the aerosol which contained the virus, and the amount of the active virus was titrated by plaque assay. The amount of active viruses was similar in both the gas-exposed air and the control air, indicating that the gas had no inactivating properties under these conditions. Validating the bactericidal and virucidal abilities under various conditions is essential before applying such a material to actual infection control.
