Authors: Widjaja Nicole, Dickinson Douglas, Shao Xueling, Hsu Stephen.
Background: Norovirus is a major cause of acute gastroenteritis. Alcohol sanitization is ineffective, and currently used alcohol-based hand sanitizers are not recommended by the CDC for norovirus in healthcare settings. This study evaluated virucidal activity and surface persistence of a novel alcohol-based hand sanitizer formulation, ProtecTeaV, containing lipophilic epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG-p) against a human norovirus surrogate.
Methods: Virucidal capacity against feline calicivirus (FCV) was tested using a standard 50% Tissue Culture Infective Dose (TCID50) suspension assay. Persistence of residual virucidal activity after application on a clean surface was determined through 12 hours. Controls included the formulation without EGCG-p, popular alcoholbased sanitizers, and antibacterial liquid hand soap (LHS). Statistical analysis employed one-way ANOVA (alpha=0.05).
Results: Suspension assays demonstrated that the ProtecTeaV formulation effectively reduced FCV viral infectivity >log10 4 (10,000 fold). Surface applied residue activity remained strong (reduction of infectivity by > log10 3) through 12 hours. In comparison, LHS did not show virucidal activity without washing with water, and other controls failed to reduce infectivity by more than log10 3 (1,000 fold).
Conclusion: This non-toxic hand sanitizer/surface disinfectant demonstrated effective and prolonged virucidal activities against a norovirus surrogate. Therefore, the EGCG-p formulation is potentially a novel and effective approach to curtail norovirus outbreaks.
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