by Brianna Crandall — December 15, 2014—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently updated its list of EPA-registered disinfectants that are considered effective for environmental infection control in hospitals and other affected facilities for the Ebola virus on hard, non-porous surfaces.
The disinfectants meet the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Interim Guidance for Environmental Infection Control in Hospitals for Ebola Virus, which EPA helped develop.
According to EPA, using the listed EPA-registered products in a manner consistent with the product labeling complies with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) requirements for occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens. EPA notes that its list is not comprehensive, and that it will update the list with additional products as needed.
At this time, EPA is not allowing label claims related to antimicrobial product efficacy specifically against the Ebola virus since a scientifically available testing procedure with a surrogate has not been developed. However, EPA says that enveloped viruses such as Ebola are susceptible to a broad range of hospital disinfectants used to disinfect hard, non-porous surfaces (non-enveloped viruses are more resistant).
As a precaution, the selection of a disinfectant product with a higher potency than what is normally required for an enveloped virus is being recommended by the CDC at this time.
EPA-registered hospital disinfectants with label claims for hospital disinfection (or the equivalent microbial pathogen claims) and claims against non-enveloped viruses (e.g., norovirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, poliovirus) are broadly antiviral and capable of inactivating both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses and are used to disinfect environmental surfaces in rooms of patients with infectious diseases, says EPA.
