The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has activated its Emerging Viral Pathogen (EVP) Guidance for Antimicrobial Pesticides (Guidance) in response to hantavirus, which had been considered to be a rare disease caused by an infection from some hantaviruses (including Andes Virus). According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hantaviruses are a family of viruses that cause serious illness and sometimes death in people worldwide. The viruses are spread by infected rodents through their urine, feces, and saliva. Some hantaviruses cause Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS). Early symptoms of HPS in people resemble many other respiratory illnesses, making HPS difficult to diagnose at illness onset. Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS) is a rare disease that is caused by an infection from some hantaviruses and can cause kidney damage.
EPA developed its Guidance in 2016 to address emerging pathogens. Under this Guidance, EPA provides pesticide registrants with a voluntary “two-stage process to enable use of certain EPA-registered disinfectant products against emerging viral pathogens not identified on the product label.” These pathogens may not be identified on a label because the occurrence of EVPs is less common and predictable than that of established pathogens and because the pathogens are often unavailable commercially and standard methods for laboratory testing may not exist. EPA’s intent is for the Guidance to “expedite the process for registrants to provide useful information to the public” regarding products that may be effective against EVPs associated with certain human or animal disease outbreaks. Registrants with a pre-qualified EVP designation can include an efficacy statement in technical literature distributed to health care facilities, physicians, nurses, public health officials, non-label-related websites, consumer information services, and social media sites.
Hantavirus is an enveloped virus, meaning it is one of the easiest to kill with the appropriate disinfectant product. EPA provides the searchable List Q: Disinfectants for Emerging Viral Pathogens (EVPs). Hantavirus is a Tier I (enveloped virus); thus, when disinfectants damage their lipid envelope, the virus is no longer infectious. EPA’s List Q currently has 531 disinfectant products for use on Tier 1 viruses.
The EVP Policy for the hantavirus expires in May 2028.
Information on the hantavirus is available on CDC’s website.
