RAPID: Collaborative Research: Survival of Ebola virus in the Water Environment: Surrogate Development and Disinfection Effectiveness
Little is known about the fate of Ebola virus and its survival in the environment. Infection in primates has been observed from non-direct contact, raising further the possibility of an environmental infection route. As an initial phase of this RAPID, Ebola virus surrogates, based upon the published data of Ebola virus survival in liquid media, will be developed. Second, the survival of these surrogates will be evaluated in environmental waters (including water and wastewater) and in the presence of water and wastewater disinfectants. This work will be valuable to the broader environmental, public health, and risk assessment communities by providing access to realistic surrogates with which studies (e.g. aerosol and fomite survival studies) may be conducted. The proposed RAPID mechanism is appropriate to inform proper waste handling in a timely manner. This work will also serve to mobilize and inform a response to proper waste handling. Given limited BSL4 access, this approach is the most reasonable response in the near term to inform Ebola virus survival in the water environment, and subsequent risk assessment.
Experimental work on this project will be conducted at the University of Pittsburgh. Data and statistical analysis will be conducted at Drexel University. The proposed research will benefit society through informing proper handling of Ebola virus contaminated waste. The proposed work will be disseminated broadly through journal publications and conference proceedings.
The proposed research will fill in an existing knowledge gap in the survival and proper handling of Ebola virus contaminated waste. This research will also develop and verify surrogates that may be used by the broader environmental engineering and public health research communities for Ebola virus survival studies.
