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Efficacy of novel aqueous photo‐chlorine dioxide against a human norovirus surrogate, bacteriophage MS2 and Clostridium difficile endospores, in suspension, on stainless steel and under greenhouse conditions
Author(s) -
Buckley D.,
Dharmasena M.,
Wang H.,
Huang J.,
Adams J.,
Pettigrew C.,
Fraser A.,
Jiang X.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1111/jam.14887
Subject(s) - chlorine dioxide , endospore , clostridium difficile , spore , microbiology and biotechnology , sodium chlorite , bacteriophage ms2 , suspension (topology) , bacteriophage , chemistry , food science , biology , escherichia coli , biochemistry , inorganic chemistry , gene , antibiotics , mathematics , homotopy , pure mathematics
Aims The efficacy of a novel photochemical method for generating chlorine dioxide (photoClO 2 ) was evaluated against human noroviruses (HuNoV) surrogate, bacteriophage MS2, and Clostridium difficile endospores. Methods and Results Chlorine dioxide was generated by mixing 1% sodium chlorite with 10 parts‐per‐million (ppm) Eosin Y and irradiating with a photo‐activator‐excitable light. PhotoClO 2 efficacy was assessed against bacteriophage MS2 and C. difficile endospores in suspension, on hard surfaces and greenhouse conditions under soiled and unsoiled conditions. The estimated effective photoClO 2 produced and consumed was 20·39 ± 0·16 ppm at a rate of 8·16 ppm per min in a 1% sodium chlorite solution. In suspension, MS2 phage was reduced by 3·35 and >5·10 log 10 PFU per ml in 120 and 90 min, with and without soil, respectively. At the same time, when dried on stainless steel surface, MS2 phage was reduced by >4·53 log 10 PFU per carrier in 30 min under both conditions. On the other hand, C. difficile endospores in suspension were reduced by 2·26 and 3·65 log 10 CFU per ml in 120 min with and without soiling, respectively. However, on stainless steel surface, maximal reductions of the C. difficile endospores were 0·8 and 1·5 log 10 CFU per carrier with and without soiling, respectively, and a maximal reduction of 2·97 log 10 CFU per carrier under greenhouse conditions at 24 h. Conclusions Overall, photoClO 2 showed promise as a technology to control HuNoV contamination on environmental surfaces but requires further optimization and testing against C. difficile endospores. Significance and Impact of the Study Results from this investigation will serve as a model for how to generate and quantify photoClO 2 and how to appropriately evaluate this new class of disinfectants against environmentally resilient pathogens: viruses and bacterial endospores.