Duck hepatitis B virus: a model for assessing the efficacy of disinfectants against human hepatitis B virus infection

One of the most important aspects of infection control is the interruption of transmission of infectious organisms to and from patients within the hospital environment. Of particular concern are the blood-borne viruses HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Disinfectants play an important role in infection control, but their virucidal efficacy is difficult to measure in vitro because of the high susceptibility of tissue culture systems to damage by chemical agents and the relatively low titres which are achieved in growing many important viruses. Additionally, HBV is almost uncultivable in vitro and fails to infect more common laboratory animals. Therefore, the duck model of HBV infection has been used for testing disinfectant action against HBV.