Bacteriophages As Indicators of Faecal Pollution and Enteric Virus Removal

Overview

Journal Lett Appl Microbiol

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2017 Mar 18

PMID 28304098

Citations 55

Authors

B R McMinn

N J Ashbolt

A Korajkic

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Significance And Impact Of The Study: Bacteriophage are alternative fecal indicators that may be better surrogates for viral pathogens than fecal indicator bacteria (FIB). This report offers a summary of the existing literature concerning the utility of bacteriophage as indicators of viral presence (fecal sources and surface waters) and persistence (in built infrastructure and aquatic environments). Our findings indicate that bacteriophage levels in all matrices examined are consistently lower than FIB, but similar to viral pathogens. Furthermore, in built infrastructure (e.g. wastewater treatment systems) bacteriophage closely mimic viral pathogen persistence suggesting they may be adequate sentinels of enteric virus removal.

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