Abstract
When the first wave of the SARS epidemic seemed to have reached its conclusion, it was completely unclear how the spread of the virus would evolve. Taking into account all the uncertainties and anticipating the worst-case scenario, many laboratories and vaccine manufacturers started working on a vaccine approach against SARS infection. The results presented here describe the evaluation of decontamination practices performed within the framework of a SARS-Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) vaccine development project.
We show that it takes 45 days at room temperature to fully inactivate the human SARS-CoV, whereas an enveloped virus such as the rabies virus, when treated in a similar way, is totally inactivated in three days. Moreover, the SARS-CoV is very resistant to alkaline treatment and, even more surprisingly, formaldehyde fumigation is not efficacious on the dried virus (under the conditions tested). Only heat (autoclave) and hypochlorite chloride treatments are efficacious treatments for the decontamination of SARS-CoV.