Virucidal Activity of World Health Organization–Recommended Formulations Against Enveloped Viruses, Including Zika, Ebola, and Emerging Coronaviruses

Siddharta, Anindya; Pfaender, Stephanie; Vielle, Nathalie Jane; Dijkman, Ronald; Friesland, Martina; Becker, Britta; Yang, Jaewon; Engelmann, Michael; Todt, Daniel; Windisch, Marc P.; Brill, Florian H.; Steinmann, Joerg; Steinmann, Jochen; Becker, Stephan; Alves, Marco P.; Pietschmann, Thomas; Eickmann, Markus; Thiel, Volker; Steinmann, Eike

Next, we investigated the susceptibility of emerging respiratory CoVs against the WHO formulations in the same experimental suspension assay setup. As reference for CoVs, which can be cultivated under lower biosafety levels, we included BCoV that naturally infects cattle. As depicted in Supplementary Figure 1A , WHO formulation II at a 30% concentration was sufficient to completely inactivate BCoV, whereas for WHO formulation I higher concentrations of at least 40% were required (Supplementary Figure 1A) . Similar inactivation profiles could be observed for MERS-CoV ( Figure 1C ) and SARS-CoV ( Figure 1D ), demonstrating a high susceptibility of these emerging CoVs to WHO formulations. Furthermore, these results implicate BCoV as a valid surrogate virus for inactivation studies with MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV.