Survival and disinfection of an enveloped surrogate virus on Tyvek suits used for health care personal protective equipment

The survival and disinfection of bacteriophage phi 6, an enveloped surrogate virus, was evaluated on Tyvek suits used as health care personal protective equipment. After 6 hours there was 2-log(10) inactivation of virus on Tyvek suits at both 40% and 60% relative humidity. Both hypochlorite and quaternary ammonium produced a >3.21 - and >4.33-log(10) reduction of the virus, respectively, after 1-minute contact time. Enveloped viruses can survive on Tyvek suits beyond the length of a single patient care encounter, but they can be inactivated by chemical disinfectants. (C) 2016 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.