Rotavirus Monitoring in Drinking and Surface Waters of Cordoba, Argentina

BARRIL, PA; PREZ, VE; NATES, SILVIA

Gastrointestinal Disease - Medical Sience

SM Group

Año: 2016; p. 1 - 11

Enteric viruses are the major causative agents of waterborne diseases, however there are no regulations that control their presence in aqueous matrices. It has been proved that current standards for microbiological water quality do not guarantee the absence of viruses. The aims of this study were to analyze the presence and concentration of rotavirus, the main etiological agent of infantile gastroenteritis, in environmental waters of Córdoba, Argentina, and to estimatethe risk of waterborne rotavirus infection. A total of 101 samples were analyzed (25 drinking waters and 76 surface waters from the San Roque Dam, Suquía River and Xanaes River). Two different methodologies for virus concentration were applied, filtration with negative charged membranes followed by ultracentrifugation for drinking waters and polyethylene glycol precipitation for surface waters. Rotavirus detection and quantification was assayed by RT-real time PCR. Quantitative microbiological risk assessment (QMRA) of the environmental waters was undertaken for rotavirus by β-Poisson modeling and Monte Carlo simulation. The drinking waters did not reveal rotavirus contamination, while a total of 37/76 (48.7%) surface waters showed rotavirus presence. The San Roque Dam and Suquía River revealed rotavirus presence in all the samples (28/28, 100%) at high concentrations (1.1x106 gc/L and 5.2x105gc/L, respectively). The Xanaes River exhibited a lower level of viral contamination, being rotavirus sporadically detected (9/48, 18.7%) at an average concentration of 8.5x100 gc/L. QMRA revealed a risk of rotavirus infection of 0.18 and 0.77 for an individual exposure to the Xanaes and Suquía Rivers and 0.85 by contacting with the San Roque Dam. Rotavirus monitoring should be included in water quality assessment of surface waters in order to alert the population about the health risks by contact with contaminated waters. In contrast, the consumption of drinking water in Córdoba city would not be a risk for transmission of rotavirus to the population exposed.