Combination of quaternary ammonia and glutaraldehyde as a disinfectant against enveloped and non-enveloped viruses

Infectious bursal disease is a highly infectious immunosuppressive disease of chickens endemic in many poultry-producing areas around the world. The non-enveloped virus that causes the disease, infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), is highly stable and resistant to inactivation by common disinfectants. Avian influenza viruses (AIV), on the other hand, are highly vulnerable to most disinfectants due to their phospholipid envelope, but still pose a major threat to the poultry industry, as the outbreaks in 2015 in the United States have shown. Several studies have evaluated the efficacy of disinfectants against both IBDV and AIV but failed to take into consideration factors that would affect the disinfectant efficacy once used in the field, such as organic material. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a commercial combination of quaternary ammonia and glutaraldehyde as a disinfectant against IBDV and AIV in the presence of organic material commonly found in the commercial poultry industry: fecal matter alone, feathers/dust mixed with feces, and bedding material mixed with feces. After a 10-minute disinfectant contact time, each surface was swabbed and virus isolation attempted in embryonated specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chicken eggs. The non-enveloped very virulent (vv) IBDV was reisolated from spiked feces and shavings treated with the disinfectant. This was confirmed by RT-PCR detection of the virus. In contrast, no viral isolate or RT-PCR product was obtained from the samples collected from spiked feathers/dust treated with the disinfectant. Finally, no low pathogenic (LP) AI was re-isolated from the samples treated with the disinfectant indicating that, under laboratory conditions, the combination of quaternary ammonia and glutaraldehyde was partially and completely effective in the inactivation of vvIBDV and LPAI, respectively. Not only the viral envelope, but also the presence of organic matter plays an important role in the viral resistance to disinfectants.