Mechanisms of inactivation of hepatitis A virus in water by chlorine dioxide

In this study, to elucidate the mechanisms of inactivation of hepatitis A virus (HAV) by chlorine dioxide, cell culture, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and long-overlapping RT-PCR were used to detect the infectivity, antigenicity, and entire genome of HAV before and after disinfection. The results revealed the complete inactivation of infectivity after a 10-min exposure to 7.5 mg of chlorine dioxide per liter; and the highest level of sensitivity in the 5′non-translated regions (5′NTR) (the sequence from bp 1 to 671), inactivation of which took as much time as the inactivation of infectivity of HAV by chlorine dioxide; the complete destruction of antigenicity after a 10-min exposure to 7.5 mg of chlorine dioxide per liter. It is suggested that the inactivation mechanism of HAV by chlorine dioxide was due to the loss of the 5′NTR and/or destruction of the antigenicity, which is not similar to that of chlorine (Appl Environ Microbiol 68: 4951).