Assessing the use of picobirnavirus and infective enterovirus as indicators for faecal contamination tracking in freshwater and its potential to report the presence of rotavirus.

MASACHESSI, GISELA; MARTINEZ, LAURA; GIORDANO, MIGUEL; BARRIL, PATRICIA; JORGE PAVAN, NATES, SILVIA

Houffalize

Simposio; 13th dsRNA viruses.; 2018

An environmental survey was conducted in order to assess picobirnavirus (PBV) and infective enterovirus (iEV) as indicators of faecalcontamination in freshwater and its potential to report the presence of rotavirus (RV). The study was conducted in the San Roque Dam,Córdoba, Argentina, during a three-years-long monitoring campaign. Water samples were concentrated by polyethylene glycolprecipitation. RT-PCR was carried out to assess the genome presence of PBV and RV. iEV was evaluated by cell cultureimmunofluorescenceassay. RV genomic concentration was quantified by qPCR and RV infective particles was estimated.The overall frequency was 62.9% for PBV and 70.4% for iEV. No significant difference was observed in the rates of iEV and PBV in theyears studied or a seasonal pattern for the viruses studied. The overall RV frequency was 45.8%; 90.9% of the RV positive samples werealso positives for iEV and/or PBV genome. Rotavirus infective particles/10 ml of water were detected in a range of 33-7,466; 90% of thesamples revealed up to 100 infective particles, which are enough to initiate a viral infection in the exposed host.At least one of the viruses analysed was demonstrated in the 100% of the samples with values under the level guide for faecal coliforms(