Viral Persistence in Landfill Leachate Report
Citation:
Howard, M. Viral Persistence in Landfill Leachate Report. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-18/077, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
This study assessed the persistence of viruses in landfill leachate to determine if viruses in landfills pose a potential threat to human and/or environmental health when introduced into a landfill. This study performed tests under laboratory conditions to evaluate the persistence and decay of viral infectivity in landfill leachate. This study was performed using viral surrogates of BW agents, and Zika virus (ZIKV), a human pathogen recently responsible for a global pandemic. Surrogate agents were selected in addition to working with ZIKV to reduce testing burden while collecting quantitatively valid results on infectious BW agent decay. Surrogate testing follows the well-established hypothesis that although the diversity of viral contaminants may be quite large, lower risk agents (surrogates) with similar structures and susceptibilities can be chosen for experimentation that result in qualitatively similar results to threat agents of interest. Surrogate agents used in this study include MS2 bacteriophage (MS2), and Phi 6 bacteriophage (Phi6), commonly used surrogates in decontamination testing, and also used during the 2015-2016 landfill persistence study.
Description:
A report on experiments looking at persistence of viruses in landfill leachate.