Occurrence of Enteroviruses and Rotaviruses in Drinking Water in Colombia

Abstract

Relatively few studies have been conducted on the occurrence of enteric viruses in drinking water in developing countries. In this study, we sought to apply positively charged microporous filters to the detection of enteric viruses in the drinking water of several major Colombian cities. Finished drinking water samples were collected at several drinking water plants whose treatment included flocculat ion, sand filtration and chlorination. Drinking water samples were also collected from the taps of private homes, hotels and community taps. Viruses were concentrated by passage of 20-99 liters of water through 50S Zeta-plus or 1 MDS Virosorb positively charged filters. Adsorbed viruses were eluted with 10% tryptose phosphate broth adjusted to pH 9.5 and concentrated to a final volume of 2 ml by ultracentrifugation before assay. Enteroviruses were detected by assay on BGM cells and rotavirus by assay on MA-104 cells. Out of eight samples of finished drinking water leaving the plants studied, three were found to contain enteric viruses. Rotaviruses were detected in two samples and enterovirus in one. Two of the samples containing enteric viruses also contained greater than 100 coliforms/100 ml. Rotaviruses were isolated from three tapwater samples and enteroviruses from one. All the tapwater samples which contained enteric viruses had visible turbidity and also contained coliform bacteria.