Environmental disinfection to inactivate airborne viruses by aerosolized surfactants

Providing effective alternatives for the detection and inactivation of airborne viruses is the focus of this research in response to the emergence of new variants of the virus, such as SARS-CoV-2. The use of environmentally friendly surfactants has led to the development of a promising technique with high efficacy for the inactivation of viruses in indoor bioaerosols, with no by-products and no health risks. Environments contaminated with infectious bioaerosols were simulated under controlled laboratory conditions (contact chamber) and in test rooms. The Sampling Bio-Aerosol Button by Double Agar Layer (SBAB-DAL) was developed and validated for virus recovery from infectious bioaerosols. Three new custom surfactants (CS) (patent pending): CS formulated with benzalkonium chloride (CSBC), CS based on pyridinium (CSPB) and CS prepared from cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CSCTAC), were evaluated for inactivation of bacteriophage MS2 ATCC 15597-B1 as a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2. Non-inactivated viruses were analysed by SBAB-DAL to assess reduction percentages (% reduction) in contact chamber. CSBC, CSPB and CSCTAC were consistently able to inactivate up to 99.810, 99.986 and 99.500 % of the MS2 surrogate respectively in a 5-min contact time. The three surfactants were able to inactivate up to and 99.999 % over a 10-min contact time. The highest inactivation (up to 5 log₁₀ reduction) by application of the customised surfactant treatments supplied in aerosol form has a high potential for the inactivation of environmental viruses such as SARS-CoV-2. The SBAB-DAL methodology is a simple and effective test that can be applied to the monitoring of infectious bioaerosols as vehicles of primary virus transmission in indoor environments.