Chlorine Inactivation of H5N1

[Anne]

http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/13/10/pdfs/07-0323.pdf?s_cid=eid07_0323_x

[Niko]

Re: Chlorine Inactivation of H5N1

Thanks Anne.

Uploaded to FT for quicker viewing.

07-0323.pdf

Conclusions
The results of this study confirm that avian influenza (H5N1) is readily inactivated by chlorination. Although the viral inoculum exerted a considerable initial chlorine demand, the maintenance of a free chlorine residual (0.52?1.08 mg/L) was sufficient to inactivate the virus by >3 orders of magnitude within an exposure time of 1 minute. Chlorine demand would also be anticipated when the virus is associated with fecal material. These findings indicate that the ability to compensate for an initial chlorine demand followed by exposure to a relatively low level of free chlorine for a short time is sufficient to inactivate the virus by chlorination. For drinking water disinfection at conditions similar to those used in this study, the US
Environmental Protection Agency specifies free chlorine Ct values of 6 and 8 mg-min/L to achieve enteric virus inactivation of 3 and 4 orders of magnitude, respectively (14). According to our results, these Ct values would be more than sufficient to inactivate HPAI (H5N1) in the water environment. The information on chlorine disinfection presented here should be helpful for developing risk management procedures regarding the role of water in the transmission of the virus to humans and poultry.