Surgical wound dressings as barriers to an enveloped virus

To determine their efficacy as barriers to the passage of lipid-enveloped viruses, wound dressings were exposed to known concentrations of Semliki Forest virus (SFV) at their inner surfaces for varying periods of time. The dressings were tested such that their outer surfaces were maintained in either a dry or a wet environment. Out of a total of 120 dressings each tested at four time points under wet conditions, virus was found to have penetrated on only one occasion. Similarly, virus penetration was noted in only a single test out of 442 carried out on 59 dressings under dry conditions. The dressings under test thus proved highly effective barriers to passage of a lipid enveloped virus.