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The Detection Rate of Enteric Viruses and Clostridium difficile in a Waste Water Treatment Plant Effluent

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Abstract

Waste water treatment plant (WWTP) is considered as an important source of surface water contamination by enteric pathogens. In this study, we describe the occurrence of enteric viruses (group A rotaviruses, noroviruses, astroviruses, sapoviruses, hepatitis A virus, and hepatitis E virus) and Clostridium difficile in the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant during a 1-year period. Enteric viruses were simultaneously and efficiently concentrated in a single step using methacrylate monolithic chromatographic support. Rotaviruses, noroviruses (genogroup I and II), and sapoviruses were detected in all 12 concentrated samples, whereas astroviruses were not detected in August and September and hepatitis A and E viruses were not detected at all. Clostridium difficile was detected in all samples and altogether 121 strains were isolated and grouped into 32 different ribotypes of which 014/020 and 010 were most prevalent. Pathogens detected in WWTP effluent partially reflect the epidemiological situation of enteric viruses and C. difficile in human population and open the discussion on implementation of possible techniques for virus and bacteria removal from WWTP effluent prior to release into the surface water system.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Slovenian National research Agency (ARRS) Grant L2-4314.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Zaloška 4, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Andrej Steyer & Mateja Poljšak-Prijatelj

  2. National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Ion Gutiérrez-Aguirre, Nejc Rački & Maja Ravnikar

  3. National Laboratory for Health, Environment and Food (NLZOH), Maribor, Slovenia

    Sara Beigot Glaser & Maja Rupnik

  4. WWTP Domžale-Kamnik d.o.o., Domžale, Slovenia

    Barbara Brajer Humar & Marjeta Stražar

  5. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Igor Škrjanc

  6. Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia

    Maja Rupnik

  7. Centre of Excellence for Integrated Approaches in Chemistry and Biology of Proteins, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Maja Rupnik

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  1. Andrej Steyer
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  2. Ion Gutiérrez-Aguirre
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  3. Nejc Rački
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Correspondence to Andrej Steyer.

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Steyer, A., Gutiérrez-Aguirre, I., Rački, N. et al. The Detection Rate of Enteric Viruses and Clostridium difficile in a Waste Water Treatment Plant Effluent. Food Environ Virol 7, 164–172 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-015-9183-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-015-9183-7

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