The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is considered to be a major public health problem worldwide, and a significant number of reports on nosocomial outbreaks of HBV
infections have been reported. Prevention of indirect HBV transmission by contaminated objects is only possible through the use of infection-control principles, including the use of chemical
biocides, which are proven to render the virus non-infectious. The virucidal activity of
biocides against HBV cannot be predicted; therefore, validation of the virucidal action of
disinfectants against HBV is essential. However, feasible HBV infectivity assays have not yet been established. Thus, surrogate models have been proposed for testing the efficacy of
biocides against HBV. Most of these assays do not correlate with HBV infectivity. Currently, the most promising and feasible assay is the use of the taxonomically related duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV), which belongs to the same Hepadnaviridae virus family. This paper reviews the application of DHBV, which can be propagated in vitro in primary duck embryonic hepatocytes, for the testing of
biocides and describes why this model can be used as reliable method to evaluate
disinfectants for efficacy against HBV. The susceptibility levels of important
biocides, which are often used as ingredients for commercially available
disinfectants, are also described.