Department of Hygiene, Social and Environmental Medicine, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany.
Water Res. 2011 Jan;45(3):1358-68. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2010.10.021. Epub 2010 Oct 23.
A reliable indicator is needed to predict and reduce the risk of infection associated with fecal contamination of surface water. Since Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), human picobirnaviruses (hPBV) and Torque teno virus (TTV) have been detected at substantial levels in human feces, we explored whether detection of nucleic acids of these viruses is a suitable indicator of fecal contamination in river water. From September 2008 to December 2009, water samples (n = 111) were collected from the Ruhr and Rhine rivers and from the influents and effluents of a wastewater plant (n = 12). Quantitative real time (RT-) PCR was used to determine the abundance of PMMoV, hPBV, and TTV in comparison to human adenoviruses (HAdV) and human polyomaviruses (HPyV) that are frequently detected in surface water and were previously proposed as indicators. While PMMoV was detected in all river water samples, the other viruses were detected less frequently. The concentration of the studied viruses in positive river water ranged from 5 × 10(1) to 1.07 × 10(6) genome equivalents per liter (gen.equ./l). All wastewater samples were positive for PMMoV, HAdV and HPyV, while TTV and hPBV were detected in 6/12 and 3/12 of samples, respectively. To determine if PMMoV is specific to human-derived fecal waste, fecal samples from human (n = 20) and animal (n = 53) were also tested. In contrast to the ubiquity of PMMoV in human feces (19/20) the virus was only detected at low concentration in a minority of the animal fecal samples tested (7/15 from chicken, 1/10 from Geese and 1/6 from cows). Therefore, in this setting TTV and hPBV do not seem to be suitable indicators of fecal contamination in water. Whereas, the high excretion level and dissemination of PMMoV in human sewage and river water suggest that PMMoV could be a promising indicator of fecal pollution in surface water.
需要一种可靠的指标来预测和降低与地表水粪便污染相关的感染风险。由于已在人体粪便中大量检测到胡椒轻斑驳病毒（PMMoV）、人微小双核糖核酸病毒（hPBV）和扭结藤本病毒（TTV），我们探索了这些病毒的核酸检测是否是河水粪便污染的合适指标。2008 年 9 月至 2009 年 12 月，采集了鲁尔河和莱茵河以及一家污水处理厂的进水和出水（n = 12）的水样（n = 111）。定量实时（RT-）PCR 用于确定 PMMoV、hPBV 和 TTV 的丰度，与经常在地表水中检测到的人腺病毒（HAdV）和人多瘤病毒（HPyV）进行比较，这些病毒之前被提议作为指标。虽然所有河水样本均检测到了 PMMoV，但其他病毒的检测频率较低。研究病毒在阳性河水样本中的浓度范围为 5×10(1)至 1.07×10(6)基因组当量/升（gen.equ./l）。所有废水样本均为 PMMoV、HAdV 和 HPyV 阳性，而 TTV 和 hPBV 分别在 6/12 和 3/12 的样本中检测到。为了确定 PMMoV 是否特异于人类粪便废物，还检测了来自人类（n = 20）和动物（n = 53）的粪便样本。与 PMMoV 在人类粪便中的普遍存在（19/20）形成对比，该病毒仅在少数测试的动物粪便样本中以低浓度检测到（鸡的 7/15、鹅的 1/10 和牛的 1/6）。因此，在这种情况下，TTV 和 hPBV 似乎不是水样粪便污染的合适指标。然而，PMMoV 在人类污水和河水中的高排泄水平和传播表明，PMMoV 可能是地表水粪便污染的有前途的指标。
