Evaluation of compressed sodium chloride on the inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 and surrogates

PLoS One. 2022 Nov 21;17(11):e0277881. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277881. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the global COVID-19 pandemic. Limited studies have been performed on various types of disinfectants utilized to control the spread of this highly contagious virus. This study aimed to investigate the inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 using compressed sodium chloride (CSC) surface. A real-time reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assay was used to evaluate the effectiveness of CSC on the disintegration of viral RNA in a time dependent manner. The effects of CSC on viral infectivity were determined using a TCID50 assay of a surrogate virus, hCoV-229E, in MRC-5 cell culture. The results demonstrated that CSC achieved a 2 to 3- log10 reduction of viral genomic RNA for a laboratory strain of hCoV-229E, and clinical samples of hCoV-229E and hCoV-OC43. A 3 to 4-log10 reduction was observed for SARS-CoV-2 (RdRp and E gene) suggesting that a CSC surface could effectively disintegrate the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome. CSC was observed to have a 6 log10 inactivation of infectious hCoV-229E using cell culture after 5 minutes of exposure compared to the control, indicating good disinfection efficacy of a CSC surface against virus.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19*
  • Coronavirus 229E, Human*
  • Humans
  • Pandemics
  • RNA, Viral / analysis
  • RNA, Viral / genetics
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Sodium Chloride / pharmacology

Substances

  • RNA, Viral
  • Sodium Chloride

Grants and funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.