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Decontamination studies with the agents of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scrapie

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Summary

Macerates of bovine brain infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) agent, and rodent brain infected with the 263K or ME7 strains of scrapie agent, were subjected to porous-load autoclaving at temperatures between 134 and 138 °C for ≤ 60 min. Bioassay in rodents showed that none of the regimes produced complete inactivation. Homogenates of BSE-infected bovine brain were exposed for ≤ 120 min to solutions of sodium hypochlorite or sodium dichloroisocyanurate containing ≤ 16,500 ppm available chlorine. There was no detectable survival of infectivity after the hypochlorite treatments but none of the dichloroisocyanurate solutions produced complete inactivation. Homogenates of BSE-infected bovine brain, and rodent brain infected with the 263K and ME7 strains of scrapie agent, were exposed for ≤ 120 min to 1M or 2M sodium hydroxide but no procedure produced complete inactivation of all agents tested.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BBSRC & MRC Neuropathogenesis Unit, Institute for Animal Health, Edinburgh, UK

    D. M. Taylor, H. Fraser, I. McConnell, D. A. Brown, K. L. Brown, K. A. Lamza & G. R. A. Smith

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  1. D. M. Taylor
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  2. H. Fraser
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  3. I. McConnell
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  4. D. A. Brown
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  5. K. L. Brown
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  6. K. A. Lamza
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  7. G. R. A. Smith
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Taylor, D.M., Fraser, H., McConnell, I. et al. Decontamination studies with the agents of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scrapie. Archives of Virology 139, 313–326 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01310794

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01310794

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