EVALUATION OF "PUREBRUSH" ULTRAVIOLET TOOTHBRUSH SANITIZER

Twelve sterile toothbrushes (Oral B) were immersed in 200 ml of EMEM (Eagle Minimal Essential Medium) containing 103 TCID50/ml of live virus particles for 30 minutes at room temperature. Four toothbrushes were dipped in 100 ml neat EMEM. Four of the brushes inoculated with virus were hung vertically, four were hung in the ultraviolet toothbrush sanitizer, four were first scrubbed for five minutes in 700 ml of sterile deionized water and then subjected to the sanitizer. Four additional brushes were soaked in neat EMEM and simultaneously exposed to the sanitizer to serve as negative controls.

After one hour of the specified treatment, each group of toothbrushes was thoroughly scrubbed in 18 ml of EMEM. The elutriate of each group was then titrated in susceptible cell cultures, using decimal dilutions. Four cell culture tubes were inoculated per dilution. Herpes Simplex virus type 1, Influenza virus type A, and Polio type 2 vaccine strain viruses isolated from clinical specimens and confirmed by serum neutralization and immunofluorescent procedures were included in this study. Human embryonic kidney secondary cells were selected for Herpes Simplex virus investigations, while Rhesus monkey kidney primary cells were used to recover infected virus particles of Influenza and Polio viruses. Inoculated cultures were maintained at 35C in roller drums and examined daily for the development if cytopathic effects. Herpes cultures were observed for seven days, while cultures of Influenza and Polio viruses were checked for fourteen days. Influenza virus cultures were also examined for hemadsorption before discarding. Each experiment was repeated three times.

No cytopathogenic effect or hemadsorption was observed in any of the cultures inoculated with elutriates of infected or clean toothbrushes that were subjected to the Purebrush Ultraviolet Toothbrush Sanitizer. In contrast, 102.5, 102.7, and 102.5 TCID50/ ml of Herpes Simplex, Influenza A, and Polio 2 virus particles were recovered respectively from the elutriates of contaminated brushes that were not subjected to the Sanitizer.

On the basis of these experiments it can be concluded that under the in vitro test conditions outlined above, toothbrushes subjected to the Purebrush Ultraviolet Toothbrush Sanitizer according to the manufacturer's instructions, resulted in inability to recover live viruses, while those not treated resulted in the recovery of the test viruses.

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