Environmental persistence of vaccinia virus on materials

Smallpox is caused by the variola virus, and ranks as one of the most serious diseases that could originate from a biological weapon. However, limited data exist on the persistence of variola and related viruses on materials (that may act as fomites), under controlled environmental conditions. To fill these data gaps, we determined the persistence of the vaccinia virus (an established surrogate for the variola virus) as a function of temperature, relative humidity and material. Experiments were conducted with vaccinia virus in a freeze-dried form, using four materials under four sets of environmental conditions. After elapsed times ranging from 1 to 56 days, the virus was extracted from small coupons and quantified via plaque-forming units (PFU). The vaccinia virus was most persistent at low temperature and low relative humidity, with greater than 10(4) PFU recovered from glass, galvanized steel and painted cinder block at 56 days (equivalent to only a c. 2 log reduction). Thus, vaccinia virus may persist from weeks to months, depending on the material and environmental conditions. This study may aid those responsible for infection control to make informed decisions regarding the need for environmental decontamination following the release of an agent such as variola.