Journal Article

Successful Inactivation of High-Consequence Pathogens in PrimeStore Molecular Transport Media

Boda, Maurice, Murphy, Nicole, Torrison, Jerry, Fischer, Gerald, Maljkovic Berry, Irina, Spruill-Harrell, Briana, Freeburger, Denise, Chandrasekaran, Prabha, Kocher, Gregory, Akers, Kristen, Kuhn, Jens H.

2025

Overview

Handling cultured isolates and clinical, environmental, or wildlife surveillance samples containing Risk Group 3 and 4 pathogens presents considerable biosafety challenges in minimizing human exposure during processing and transport. Safe handling typically requires high- or maximum-containment facilities, demanding substantial logistical planning and resources. We evaluated PrimeStore Molecular Transport Medium (PS-MTM), a guanidine-based solution created to kill pathogens and preserve nucleic acids at ambient temperatures, for inactivating Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, eastern equine encephalitis, Ebola, Hendra, Japanese encephalitis, Lassa, Marburg, Nipah, Rift Valley fever, and West Nile viruses. To mimic diagnostic conditions, human whole blood spiked with any of these viruses was incubated with PS-MTM for 20-, 30-, or 60-min. Samples with titers up to 107 PFU/mL exposed to PS-MTM at all time points resulted in complete loss of infectivity judged by plaque assays. A 30-min incubation provided a 50% safety margin over the minimum inactivation time and was used for quantification with the tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50) assay, enabling evaluation of PS-MTM’s activity for viruses that do or do not produce well-defined plaques. Results confirmed that PS-MTM inactivated all tested viruses at titers up to 107 TCID50/mL, underscoring its reliability for enhancing biosafety in diagnostics, outbreak management, and surveillance.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,MDPI
• Subject: Animals / Biosafety / Carbon dioxide / Coccidioidomycosis / Containment of Biohazards - methods / Crimean hemorrhagic fever / Disease control / Eastern equine encephalitis / Ebola virus / Encephalitis / Fever / Guanidine / Health surveillance / Hemodialysis / high-consequence pathogen / Humans / inactivation / Infectious diseases / Infectivity / Laboratories / Management / Methods / Military withdrawals / Molecular biology / molecular transport medium / Pandemics / Pathogenic microorganisms / Pathogens / Physiological aspects / PrimeStore MTM / Rift Valley fever / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Specimen Handling - methods / Temperature / Tissue culture / Transport media / Viral Plaque Assay / virus / Virus Inactivation / Viruses / West Nile virus