Table I.

Survival of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and surrogates on dry surfaces

Study	Year	Location	Test virus	Load applied	Substrate(s)	Suspending medium	Volume applied (μL)	Temperature (°C)/RH (%)	Drying time (min) for time 0 sample	Results
van Doremalen et al.16	2013	USA	MERS-CoV	105	Steel and plastic	Cell culture medium only	100	Variable	10	Viable virus detected after 48 h at 20°C/40% RH. Less survival at 30°C/80% RH (8 h) and 30°C/30% RH (24 h). Half-life ranged from ∼0.5 to 1 h.
Chan et al.17	2011	Hong Kong	SARS-CoV	105	Plastic	Cell culture medium only	10	Variable	Until visibly dry	SARS-CoV survived for 5 days with <10-fold reduction in titre at room temperature and humidity, and was viable for >20 days. The virus was more stable at lower temperatures (28 vs 38°C) and lower humidity (80–89% vs >95%). The reduction in viral titre was similar in suspension compared with virus dried on surfaces.
Casanova et al.26	2010	USA	TGEV	>103	Latex/nitrile gloves, N95 respirator, hospital scrubs, isolation gowns	Cell culture medium only	10	20/50	0	TGEV survived with <102 reduction on all items after 4 h and was detected on some items after 24 h
Casanova et al.19	2009	USA	TGEV, MHV	105	Stainless steel discs	Cell culture medium only	10	Variable	Until visibly dry	Both TGEV and MHV could survive in excess of 28 days under some conditions, with lower temperature and relative humidity resulting in improved survival. TGEV and MHV did not differ significantly in their survival properties.
Muller et al.27	2008	Germany	HCoV-NL63, human metapneumovirus	Not specified	Latex gloves, thermometer caps, stethoscopes, plastic table	Cell culture medium only	Not specified	Ambient	Not specified	Viable virus not detected after drying; viral RNA detectable for up to 7 days
Rabenau et al.28	2005	Germany	SARS-CoV, HCoV-229E, herpes simplex virus, adenovirus	106–107	Polystyrene Petri dish	Cell culture medium ±20% fetal calf serum	500	Ambient	Until visibly dry	SARS-CoV, adenovirus and herpes simplex virus survived >6 days. HCoV-229E survived for <72 h. The addition of FCS made little impact on survival times.
Lai et al.29	2005	China	SARS-CoV	Dilution series (102–104)	Paper, disposable gowns, cotton gowns	Cell culture medium + 2% fetal calf serum	5	Ambient	Until visibly dry	There was a dose response in terms of survival times of all materials, with more concentrated inocula surviving longer. Survival times ranged from 5 min (102 load on a cotton gown) to 2 days (104 load on disposable gown).
Duan et al.30	2003	China	SARS-CoV	106	Wood board, glass, mosiac, metal, cloth, paper, filter paper, plastic	Cell culture medium only	300	Ambient	No time 0 sample	Viability was assessed semiquantitatively and SARS-CoV was able to survive, albeit with reduced infectivity, for >72 h on all surfaces tested, and for >120 h on metal, cloth and filter paper. Additionally, virus survived for >72 h on cotton cloth in an experimentally dried enclosure.
Sizun et al.31	2000	Canada	HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43	103	Aluminium, cotton gauze, latex gloves	Cell culture medium only	10	Ambient	Until visibly dry (15–45 min)	Viability fell to below detectable levels after 6 h for 229E and 2 h for HCoV-OC43.

SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome; CoV, human coronavirus; MERS, Middle East respiratory syndrome; RH, relative humidity; TGEV, transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus; MHV, mouse hepatitis virus.