Table II.

Survival of influenza viruses on dry surfaces

Study	Year	Location	Test virus	Load applied	Substrate (s)	Suspending medium	Volume applied (μL)	Temp (°C)/RH (%)	Drying time (min) for time 0 sample	Results
van Doremalen et al.16	2013	USA	H1N1 (human isolate)	105	Steel and plastic	Cell culture medium only	100	Variable	10	No viable virus recovered after 4 h. No difference between plastic and steel.
Coulliette et al.18	2013	USA	H1N1 (pandemic strain)	104	Coupons from N95 respirators	Cell culture medium/2% FBS/mucin	100	Variable	60	102 TCID50 per coupon recovered from time 0 samples (after drying). Viable virus was recovered after 6 days with a 10-fold reduction. Viral survival was longer in FBS and mucin compared with cell culture medium. Lower absolute humidity favoured longer survival.
Zuo et al.32	2013	USA	Avian influenza H9N9	Liquid spike (104–105)	Three non-woven fabrics	Cell culture medium only	20	Ambient	0 min; until visibly dry; 30 min after visibly dry	Viable virus survival for >1 h on each of the materials tested; survival times varied significantly by material. Survival on hydrophilic nylon lower than on hydrophobic materials. Choice of eluent did not significantly affect recovery. Virus recovery following deposition as an aerosol was considerably lower.
Mukherjee et al.33	2012	USA	Field study of 20 influenza-infected individuals	Participants coughed or sneezed on hands then touched surfaces	Door handle, telephone, pillowcase, cotton handkerchief	n/a	n/a	Ambient	n/a	Virus RNA recovered from three door handles and one telephone; no samples were tissue culture positive.
			H1N1 (recovered from two participants)	Dilution series (10–105)	Formica, vinyl, stainless steel, cotton pillowcase, facial tissue	Cell culture medium only	20	Ambient	5	Viable virus detected by tissue culture from some hard surfaces at higher applied load for up to 1 h; no viable virus detectable by tissue culture after 1 h; virus RNA detectable after 1 h on some surfaces.
Greatorex et al.34	2011	UK	H1N1 (PR8)	106	Common porous and non-porous household materials	Cell culture medium plus 1% bovine serum albumin	10	17–21/23–24	0 (drying times ranged from 5 min to 7 h)	Viral RNA detected with minimal reduction on most surfaces over 24 h; viral infectivity falls away more rapidly, with infective virus at low titre detectable from most surfaces at 4 h but from only stainless steel at 9 h
			H1N1 (AH04): recent clinical isolate	104		Cell culture medium only				Semiquantitative fluorescence assay indicated the presence of virus at 4–24 h on hard surfaces but <4 h on porous surfaces.
Dublineau et al.35	2011	Paris	H1N1 seasonal and pandemic strains	105–106	Watch glass	Cell culture medium only	50	Variable	5–17 h	Both viruses survived for >3 days under all conditions tested; pandemic H1N1 survived for >7 days at 35°C and 2 months at 4°C.
Wood et al.36	2010	USA	H5N1	106	Glass and galvanized steel	Cell culture medium only	100	4/variable	60	Influenza stable at low temperature, regardless of humidity, with 13-day survival and reduction by factor of <1 on both substrates. Surface survival not tested at room temperature.
Sakaguchi et al.37	2010	Japan	H1N1	104	Personal protective equipment: rubber gloves, N95 mask, surgical mask, Tyvek gown, coated wood, steel	Cell culture medium only	500	25.2/55	0	The haemagglutinin titre of the virus remained stable on all surfaces up to 24 h. The virus remained infective by TCID50 on all materials up to 8 h, and on rubber for up to 24 h.
McDevitt et al.38	2010	USA	H1N1 (PR8)	104–105	Stainless steel	Purchased virus suspension	50	Variable	Until visibly dry (∼30 min)	Virus survival assessed at 15, 30 and 60 min at variable temperature 55–65°C) and relative humidity (25–75%). Virus survived for >60 min with a 101.5 reduction at the lowest temperature/humidity combination (55°C/25%). Linear association between increasing humidity and logarithmic reduction.
Thomas et al.39	2008	Switzerland	H3N2 (2 strains), H1N1 and influenza B	103–108	Bank notes	Cell culture medium only	50	21–28 (avg. 22)/30–50	Dried under laminar airflow; time not specified	Survival varied by strain from 3 h to 3 days, depending on the virus tested.
			Spiked pooled negative nasopharyngeal secretions		Bank notes	Cell culture medium only	50	21–28 (avg. 22)/30–50	Dried under laminar airflow; time not specified	Higher inocula survived for longer on surfaces; the addition of respiratory mucus significantly increased survival, usually from hours to up to 17 days.
			Influenza-positive nasopharyngeal secretions		Bank notes	Cell culture medium only	50	21–28 (avg. 22)/30–50	Dried under laminar airflow; time not specified	Infective influenza recovered from 7/14 (50%) of notes after 24 h, 5/14 (36%) of notes after 48 h, and in one case, after 12 days.
Noyce et al.40	2007	UK	H1N1	106	Stainless steel or copper	Cell culture medium only	20	20–24/50–60	Not specified	105 viable virus recovered from stainless steel after 24 h vs 102 viable virus on copper after 6 h
Tiwari et al.41	2006	USA	Avian influenza virus, avian metapneumovirus	104	Steel, wood, tile, tire, gumboot, feather, egg shell, egg tray, plastic, latex, cotton and polyester	Cell culture medium only	10	Ambient	Until visibly dry (∼30–40 min)	Both viruses survive for up to 72 h on most surfaces tested. Influenza survived for up to 6 days on latex and feather.
Bean et al.42	1982	USA	H1N1 and influenza B clinical isolates	102–104	Steel, plastic, cotton handkerchief, paper tissue, magazine page, cotton panamas	Cell culture medium only	100	26–29/35–56	Up to 1.5 h	Viruses survived for 48–72 h on non-porous surfaces (steel and plastic) and for shorter periods on porous surfaces. Influenza A survived significantly longer than influenza B. Viruses dried on to surfaces could be transferred to hands from all surfaces for 15 min, and from steel for 24 h.

FBS, fetal bovine serum; TCID, tissue culture infectious dose; avg., average.