Combating SARS-CoV-2: leveraging microbicidal experiences with other emerging/re-emerging viruses

M Khalid Ijaz; Syed A Sattar; Joseph R Rubino; Raymond W Nims; Charles P Gerba

doi:10.7717/peerj.9914

Combating SARS-CoV-2: leveraging microbicidal experiences with other emerging/re-emerging viruses

PeerJ. 2020 Sep 8:8:e9914. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9914. eCollection 2020.

Authors

M Khalid Ijaz^{1

2}, Syed A Sattar³, Joseph R Rubino¹, Raymond W Nims⁴, Charles P Gerba⁵

Affiliations

¹ Global Research & Development for Lysol and Dettol, Reckitt Benckiser LLC, Montvale, NJ, USA.
² Department of Biology, Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York (CUNY), Brooklyn, NY, USA.
³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁴ RMC Pharmaceutical Solutions, Inc., Longmont, CO, USA.
⁵ Water & Energy Sustainable Technology Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States.

Abstract

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan City, China, late in December 2019 is an example of an emerging zoonotic virus that threatens public health and international travel and commerce. When such a virus emerges, there is often insufficient specific information available on mechanisms of virus dissemination from animal-to-human or from person-to-person, on the level or route of infection transmissibility or of viral release in body secretions/excretions, and on the survival of virus in aerosols or on surfaces. The effectiveness of available virucidal agents and hygiene practices as interventions for disrupting the spread of infection and the associated diseases may not be clear for the emerging virus. In the present review, we suggest that approaches for infection prevention and control (IPAC) for SARS-CoV-2 and future emerging/re-emerging viruses can be invoked based on pre-existing data on microbicidal and hygiene effectiveness for related and unrelated enveloped viruses.

Keywords: Ebola virus; Enterovirus D68; Hantaan virus; Lassa virus; MERS-CoV; Microbicides; Nipah virus; SARS-CoV; SARS-CoV-2; SFTSV.

Grants and funding

Funding for the preparation of this article was provided by Reckitt Benckiser LLC. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.