Abstract
The bivalve shellfish are filter feeders and they act as natural bio-filters in seawater and can thus efficiently bio-concentrate and bio-accumulate enteric viruses in their digestive tissue. In Morocco, shellfish sanitary quality analysis does not currently include enteric virus detection. Therefore, the objective of this study was to detect the presence of enterovirus in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) collected from three wild populations (Bouregreg estuary, Yacoub Al Mansour coast and Harhoura coast) in order to get an overview on the viral contamination in the aquatic environment. Between February 2014 and February 2015, two hundred and eighty-eight samples were collected and tested for viral contamination using cell culture and real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) for intratypic differentiation (ITD). The results by cell culture and real-time PCR showed that the consumption of mussels originated from a contaminated area revealed a clear risk of infection. For this reason, the presence of enterovirus in shellfish production area represents a potential health risk by causing serious illnesses (gastroenteritis, hepatitis and poliomyelitis). Key words: Enterovirus, shellfish, viral contamination, cell culture, real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR).
Highlights
The impact of environmental pollution, especially in marine environment, by the transmission of viral infections was suspected in the beginning of the 20th century
The viruses most often transmitted by contamination of the marine water were noroviruses (NoV), hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis E virus (HEV), adenovirus (AdV), astrovirus (AV), rotavirus (RV) and the
The virological analysis of these samples displayed that 75% of mussels were contaminated by enteroviruses highlighted, with the predominance in 70.8% (204/288) of non-polio enteroviruses (NPEV) from Bouregreg estuary, Yacoub Al Mansour coast and Harhoura coast, whilst 4.2% (12/288) represented the Sabin strain of Poliovirus type 1 (PS1) from Harhoura coast, which was confirmed by real-time PCR for intratypic differentiation (ITD) (Figure 6 and Table 4)
Summary
The impact of environmental pollution, especially in marine environment, by the transmission of viral infections was suspected in the beginning of the 20th century. The environmental monitoring can provide an added tool to determine the different viruses circulating in a community (Pinto et al, 2007; Shulman et al, 2006). This is a way to monitor viral transmission in human populations by examining environmental samples in particular from bivalve molluscs (mussels). The mussels were chosen for their wide geographical distribution from temperate to subarctic regions and because they are filter feeders These characteristics make them useful bio-indicators (bioaccumulators) to evaluate and monitor the contamination level in aquatic environment (Formiga-Cruz et al, 2003)
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