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COLIPHAGES AS POTENTIAL VIRAL INDICATORS OF FECAL POLLUTION
Citation:
Friedman, S D. COLIPHAGES AS POTENTIAL VIRAL INDICATORS OF FECAL POLLUTION. Presented at 2004 Fall Society of Wetland Scientists & Multi-Society Meeting, Pensacola Beach, FL, March 30 - April 02, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
Friedman, Stephanie D. In press. Coliphages as Potential Viral Indicators of Fecal Pollution (Abstract). To be presented at the SWS/GERS Fall Joint Society Meeting: Communication and Collaboration: Coastal Systems of the Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern United States, 6-9 October 2004, Pensacola Beach, FL. 1 p. (ERL,GB R1024).
To alert health officials to potential public health risks involving human pathogen presence and to assess overall water-quality issues related to sewage influx and aquatic health, microbes of fecal origin are utilized as fecal indicators. Criteria for ideal indicator selection should include the following: the indicator should be consistently present in feces and at higher concentrations than the pathogen, indicator should not replicate outside of the intestinal tract, should be non-pathogenic and easily detected and quantified, should be at least as resistant as pathogens to disinfection and environmental inactivation conditions, the indicator density in the environment should be associated with potential illness risks and the indicator should be applicable in various water types. Currently, EPA mandates entercocci and E. coli as the standard bacteria indicator species, however. viral pathogens present in aquatic environments and, in addition, most public health outbreaks are of viral etiology. The use and application of the coliphage, a non-pathogenic virus that infects E. coli, will be addressed as a potential viral indicator of fecal contamination.
Will be oral presentation.