Development of Molecular Methods for Detection of Infectious Viruses in Treated Wastewater

Enteroviruses, hepatitis A virus (HAV), and other enteric viruses can survive wastewater treatment processes, even after chlorination. Although most viruses are inactivated by the treatment process, posing no health threat, current methods to detect enteric viruses are inadequate for quickly distinguishing the infectious viruses from inactivated ones. This project develops a sensitive and specific test that will only identify infectious viruses that have replicated in culture; no false positives of input virus can be detected in wastewater concentrates. This process should save time and money in comparison with the current standard method for detection of infectious viruses. Published by WERF. 78 pages. Soft cover.

Originally funded as WERF project 99-HHE-5UR.