The survival of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus on 4 household surfaces

Oxford J 1 , Berezin EN 2 , Courvalin P 3 , Dwyer DE 4 , Exner M 5 , Jana LA 6 Show all authors , Kaku M 7 , Lee C 8 , Letlape K 9 , Low DE 10 , Madani TA 11 , Rubino JR 12 , Saini N 13 , Schoub BD 14 , Signorelli C 15 , Tierno PM 16 , Zhong X 17

Affiliations 

  • 1 Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, St Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: J.Oxford@retroscreen.com
  • 2 Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas, Santa Casa, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Infectious Diseases Society, Sao Paulo, Brazil
  • 3 Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
  • 4 Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology and Institute for Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia
  • 5 Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
  • 6 Practical Parenting Consulting, Omaha, NE
  • 7 Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
  • 8 Sungai Buloh Hospital, Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 9 Africa Medical Association, Pretoria, South Africa; Tshepang Trust, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • 10 Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • 11 Department of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • 12 Research & Development, Reckitt Benckiser, Montvale, NJ
  • 13 Pushpanjali Crosslay Hospital, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • 14 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa
  • 15 Public Health Unit, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Rome, Italy
  • 16 New York University Langone Medical Center and School of Medicine, New York, NY
  • 17 Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
Am J Infect Control, 2014 Apr;42(4):423-5.
PMID: 24679569 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.10.016

Abstract

We investigated the survival of a pandemic strain of influenza A H1N1 on a variety of common household surfaces where multiple samples were taken from 4 types of common household fomite at 7 time points. Results showed that influenza A H1N1sw virus particles remained infectious for 48 hours on a wooden surface, for 24 hours on stainless steel and plastic surfaces, and for 8 hours on a cloth surface, although virus recovery from the cloth may have been suboptimal. Our results suggest that pandemic influenza A H1N1 can survive on common household fomites for extended periods of time, and that good hand hygiene and regular disinfection of commonly touched surfaces should be practiced during the influenza season to help reduce transmission.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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