SOMATIC AND F-SPECIFIC BACTERIOPHAGES AS INDICATORS OF FECAL CONTAMINATION

MELINA ELIZABETH BARRIOS; BLANCO FERNANDEZ, MARIA DOLORES; ROBERTINA VIVIANA CAMMARATTA; CAROLINA TORRES; VIVIANA A. MBAYED

Salta, Salta

Simposio; III Simposio Latinoamericano de Virologia Ambiental; 2016

Universidad Nacional de Salta

In Argentina, the fecal coliform group of bacteria has been usedas an indicator of fecal pollution. Coliphages are alternativeindicators. These are viruses specific for E.coli and relatedbacteria. In this study we evaluated the somatic and F-specificbacteriophages as indicators of fecal contamination and treatmenteffectiveness of industrial wastes. Samples were collected fromdifferent slaughterhouses (chicken, equine, bovine).Bacteriophages were measured by the double-layer agar plaqueassay; total and fecal coliforms, by the MPN technique. In chickenand cattle slaughterhouses, bacteriophages acted as goodindicators of animal fecal contamination and were able tomeasure the effectiveness of the treatment. In spite of the highpercentage of coliform found, no bacteriophages were detected inequine slaughterhouse samples, probably due to the inability togrowth in the bacterial strains of the assay. On the other hand, weevaluated the presence of human polyomaviruses by a nestedbroad -spectrum PCR, which was negative in all the samples,indicating the absence of human contamination. Finally, wedemonstrated that bacteriophages acted as broad indicators ofanimal fecal contamination from cattle and poultry but not fromhorses. The technique offers the advantage of measuring viralinfectivity.