Virus Stability on Surfaces, in Bodily Fluids, in Wastewater and Different Environmental Conditions

Abstract

Information concerning the fundamental properties of a pathogen is essential at the beginning of an outbreak. Often, the fundamental properties of an emerging virus are unknown because the virus is new, as in the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, or because the properties have not been investigated, as was the case during the West African Ebola virus epidemic and the Marburg virus epidemics in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The amount of time that a virus can remain viable under various conditions is one of these fundamental properties. Here we present methods for determining virus stability on surfaces, in biologically relevant matrices, and in wastewater that can be also applied to Marburg viruses.

Keywords: Bodily fluids; Carcass stability; Environmental conditions; MARV; Marburg virus stability; Surface stability; Wastewater disinfection; Wastewater stability.