Antiviral activity

The standard describes a method for determining the antiviral effectiveness of textile products (woven and knitted fabrics, fibers, yarns, braids, etc.). The standard uses the influenza A virus (flu virus) and the feline calicivirus (FCV, cat flu) as test organisms. As growing and cultivating such viruses in cell cultures is relatively time-consuming, the OMPG has significantly simplified testing for antiviral efficacy by using bacteriophages. We use the enveloped phage phi6 and the non-enveloped phage kappa.

In the course of the test, a defined number of these bacteriophages are brought into contact with a textile test specimen and removed again after 2 hours. By determining the bacteriophage titer before and after incubation with the test materials, the antiviral efficacy Mv of the sample can be calculated in comparison to a non-antiviral control material.
 

The standard uses influenza A virus (flu virus) and feline calicivirus (FCV, cat flu) as test organisms. As growing and cultivating such viruses in cell cultures is relatively time-consuming, the OMPG has significantly simplified testing for antiviral efficacy by using bacteriophages. The bacteriophage phi6 used by the OMPG belongs to the cystovirus genus and thus to the only bacteriophage family with a complete viral envelope. Due to this morphological characteristic, it has a replication cycle that is comparable to other enveloped human pathogenic viruses such as influenza A or SARS-CoV-2. For this reason, it is ideally suited as a surrogate virus (comparable alternative virus). In addition, the bacteriophage kappa is used, which serves as a surrogate virus for non-enveloped viruses.

In the course of the test, a defined number of these bacteriophages are applied to the test specimen and removed again after 24 hours. By determining the bacteriophage titer before and after incubation with the test materials, the antiviral efficacy R of the sample can be calculated in comparison to a non-antiviral control material.