Journal of Virological Methods
Volume 121, Issue 1, October 2004, Pages 85-91
Miriam E.R. Darnella, Kanta Subbaraob, Stephen M. Feinstonea, Deborah R. Taylora
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a life-threatening disease caused by a novel coronavirus termed SARS-CoV. Due to the severity of this disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that manipulation of active viral cultures of SARS-CoV be performed in containment laboratories at biosafety level 3 (BSL3). The virus was inactivated by ultraviolet light (UV) at 254 nm, heat treatment of 65 °C or greater, alkaline (pH > 12) or acidic (pH < 3) conditions, formalin and glutaraldehyde treatments. We describe the kinetics of these efficient viral inactivation methods, which will allow research with SARS-CoV containing materials, that are rendered non-infectious, to be conducted at reduced safety levels.
Keywords
SARS, Coronavirus, Virus inactivation, Tissue culture