Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 and its surrogate, bacteriophage Phi6, on surfaces and in water

PitolGarcia, Ana, Venkatesan, Samiksha, Hoptroff, Michael and Hughes, Grant ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7567-7185 (2023) 'Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 and its surrogate, bacteriophage Phi6, on surfaces and in water'. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol 89, Issue 11, e01219-23.

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred research on the persistence of infectious SARS-CoV-2 and its surrogates, including bacteriophage Phi6, in environmental reservoirs. Despite the wide use of Phi6, side-by-side comparisons between Phi6 and SARS-CoV-2 are limited. Here, we quantified the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 and Phi6 on surfaces (PVC plastic and stainless steel), using an initial inoculum of 10 3 plaque forming unit per surface, and evaluated the influence of four commonly used deposition solutions on viral persistence. In addition, we quantified the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 and Phi6 in water. Our findings revealed that Phi6 had a significantly longer half-life than SARS-CoV-2 in water and on surfaces. Phi6 persisted 34 hours in water compared with 13 hours for SARS-CoV-2. Viral persistence on surfaces was significantly influenced by the virus used and the deposition solution but not by the surface material. Phi6 remained infectious significantly longer than SARS-CoV-2 when the inoculation solution was culture media and saliva, leading to half-lives between 9 hours and 2 weeks for Phi6, compared to 0.5–2 hours for SARS-CoV-2. Using phosphate-buffered saline as a deposition solution led to half-lives shorter than 4 hours for both viruses on all surfaces. Our results indicate that bacteriophage Phi6 may lead to an overestimate of infectiousness for studies quantifying SARS-CoV-2 persistence on surfaces and water and highlight the importance of using appropriate deposition solutions when evaluating viral persistence on surfaces. IMPORTANCE The COVID-19 pandemic spurred research on the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 and its surrogates. Here we highlight the importance of evaluating viral surrogates and experimental methodologies when studying pathogen survival in the environment.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WA Public Health > Water > WA 675 Water. Water supply. Sources WC Communicable Diseases > Virus Diseases > Viral Respiratory Tract Infections. Respirovirus Infections > WC 506 COVID-19
Faculty: Department:	Biological Sciences > Vector Biology Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01219-23
SWORD Depositor:	JISC Pubrouter
Depositing User:	JISC Pubrouter
Date Deposited:	09 Nov 2023 10:36
Last Modified:	02 Jan 2024 15:59
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/23433

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