Monitoring of enteric viruses as indicators of viral contamination of recreational waters (Xanaes River).

FARÍAS AA.; PISANO MB; PREZ VE,; NATES SV,; BARRIL P; RÉ V.

Cordoba

Jornada; XVI Jornada de Investigación Científica.; 2015

Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas,

The quality of surface waters may be affected by the presence of enteric pathogenic microorganisms, due to the discharge of untreated or poorly treated wastewater, representing a risk for human health. Among enteric waterborne viruses, there are enteroviruses (EV), etiological agents of meningitis and encephalitis, hepatitis A virus (HAV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV), responsible of acute hepatitis. Environmental monitoring by molecular detection is a useful tool to demonstrate viral circulation in a region. The aim of this study was to monitor enteric viruses in aqueous matrices obtained in Xanaes River. For this, a monthly sampling was performed in 4 points of the river, corresponding to the resort area of Villa del Rosario in the period May-November 2012 (n=28). The bacteriological quality for each sample was determined. Water samples were concentrated 100X with polyethylene glicol. Then, presence of HAV, HEV and EV was determined by specific RT-nested PCRs. HAV and EV were found in the 10.7% (3/28) and the 21.4% (6/28) of the samples, respectively. HEV was not detected during the studied period. Viral amplifications were obtained in winter, spring and summer, being bacterial levels acceptable for recreational waters in the first two seasons. In addition, for EV the highest percentage of positivity was observed in spring (33%), coinciding with the increase of clinical cases of encephalitis reported in this season in our province. These results would point Xanaes River as an environmental reservoir of HAV and EV in surrounding towns of Córdoba city, as is Villa del Rosario. The percentage of positivity obtained for HAV was lower than the previously reported for Suquía River (16.1%), probably due to its passage though a city more densely populated and the disposal of sewage waste. Having found enteric viruses in waters with acceptable bacteriological quality suggests, once more, the need to incorporate viral monitoring to the current microbiological algorithms, in order to prevent potential risks of viral infection by exposure to recreational waters, as well as to determine its adequacy to current standards.