[Inactivation of rabies virus by chemical agents]

To study the virucidal activity of several chemical agents available locally in Argentina for rabies virus, was considered to be very useful for physicians treating persons bitten by rabid dogs and for those responsible for the sterilization of rabies contaminated areas. CVS fixed rabies virus suspensions were treated for one minute at room temperature with soaps of different quality, anionic (most of them derivates of dodecyl-bencene-sulfonic acid) and cationic (dodecyl, tetradecyl, hexadecyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide) detergents, lemon juice, vinegar, hydrochloric acid, sodium carbonate, etc. Most of these agents inactivated 4 logarithms of virus (99.99%) which is approximately the amount of virus present in the saliva of experimentally infected dogs. It is noteworthy that a popular treatment for animal bites in several latin America countries is lemon juice, while the scientific community may still recommend the use of nitric acid which has a definitive necrotic and scarring effect on the treated wound. The need to eliminate organic matter prior to sterilization of contaminated areas because of interference with the virucidal activity of the agents was also confirmed.