Diffuse contamination of surface waters from the north region of Argentina: human rotavirus detection and characterization

PATRICIA A. BARRIL; POMA, HUGO RAMIRO; MIGUEL O. GIORDANO; V. PREZ; SILVIA NATES; RAJAL, VERONICA BEATRIZ

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Simposio; 13th International dsRNA Virus Symposium; 2018

Fecal pollution of water is a serious concern because it is associated with thetransmission of pathogens. The aim of this study was to analyze theoccurrenceof rotavirus in the surface waters of the Arias-Arenales River in Salta, Argentina,and to statistically correlate its presence with physicochemical and microbiologicalvariables of water quality. Physicochemical variablesincluding temperature, pH,turbidity, conductivity, salinity and dissolved oxygen were measured in situ. Totaland thermotolerant coliforms were determined by the Most Probable Numbermethod. For viral analysis, water samples were concentrated by ultrafiltration androtavirus detection and G-type characterization was performed by RT-nested PCR.The nonparametric Spearman test was applied in order to find associations betweenthe evaluated variables.Rotavirus was found in 4/116 (3.4%) water samples, duringthe summer and autumn seasons. The strains were characterized as G1, G4 andG9, which are common genotypes circulating in the human population. Rotaviruspresence did not correlate with the physicochemical variables analyzed, neither withthe total and thermotolerant coliforms, which confirms that there is no quantitativerelationship between microbiological indicators of fecal contamination and thepresence of rotavirus.The monitoring sites located downstream the dischargeof sewage water (treated and untreated) did not reveal rotavirus contamination.These results showed that the Arias?Arenales River presents diffuse contaminationby rotavirus, originated from a variety of different sources, and also support theessential need of viral indicators for enhanced monitoring of water quality.