[Enterovirus survival in water and food products]

Inactivation of enteroviruses in water (sewage, river, tap) and some food products (milk, meat, bread) was studied. The process of inactivation was judged by the amount of virus (in PFU) in specimens which were stored under preset experimental conditions and selected during one month at 2--3 day intervals after the virus introduction into the object. The pattern of inactivation was judged by exponents constructed from the experimental results. The time during which half of the initial virus amount was lost has been taken for the unit of the virus inactivation rate in the object. The dynamics of inactivation was found to depend upon the object inoculated with the virus, temperature and the virus strains. Thus poliomyelitis virus survived longer in milk than in meat; its highest inactivation occurred at 37 degrees C (the highest temperature tested); wild poliovirus strains were inactivated slower than the vaccine ones.