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EVALUATION OF METHODS FOR CONCENTRATING HEPATITIS A VIRUS FROM DRINKING WATER
Citation:
Sobsey, M., S. Oglesbee, AND D. Wait. EVALUATION OF METHODS FOR CONCENTRATING HEPATITIS A VIRUS FROM DRINKING WATER. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-85/405.
Description:
Using recently developed cultivation and assay systems, currently available methods for concentrating enteric viruses from drinking water by adsorption to and subsequent elution from microporous filters followed by organic flocculation, were evaluated for their ability to recover hepatitis A virus (HAV). Cell culture-adapted HAV (strain HM-175) in seeded tap water was efficiently adsorbed by both electronegative (Filterite) and electropositive (Virosorb) 1MDS) filters at pH and ionic conditions previously used for other enteric viruses. Adsorbed HAV was efficiently eluted from these filters by beef extract eluents at pH 9.5. Eluted HAV was further concentrated efficiently by acid precipitation (organic flocculation of eluents containing beef extract made from powdered but not paste sources. Using optimum adsorption conditions for each type of filter, HAV was concentrated >100-fold from samples of seeded tap water with about 50% recovery of the initial infectious virus added to the samples. The ability to recover and quantify HAV in contaminated drinking water with currently available methods should prove useful in further studies to determine the role of drinking water in HAV transmission.