Detection of viruses in large volumes of natural waters by concentration on insoluble polyelectrolytes

Abstract

Abstract A method is described for recovering small amounts of virus from very large volumes of water. When poliovirus was added to large volumes of tap water, it could be recovered by adsorbing the virus onto thin layers of an insoluble polyelectrolyte (a crosslinked copolymer of isobutylene maleic anhydride), with subsequent concentration into small volumes of eluent for assay purposes. Virus contained in 25, 50, 75 and 100 gal of water was recovered with efficiencies ranging from 60 to 80 per cent. Poliovirus added to a 17,000-gal swimming pool was recovered with an efficiency of about 40 per cent by passing 300 gal of the pool water through a thin 3 mm polyelectrolyte layer 293 mm in diameter, with subsequent elution of the virus from the layer, and reconcentration into a smaller volume for assay.