A method for concentrating viruses recovered from sewage sludges.

Buffered 10% beef extract eluates of primary, activated, and anaerobic mesophilically digested sludges were concentrated 20-fold by the Katzenelson organic flocculation procedure after diluting the beef extract in the eluates to a final concentration of 3%. The weighted mean recovery of virions from the concentrates was approximately 58% of the numbers present in the unconcentrated buffered 10% beef extract eluates. Flocculation of eluates that contained buffered 10% beef extract at times produced poor flocs. Application of the Katzenelson procedure to the diluted buffered 10% beef extract procedure for recovering virions from sludges permits an economy in the number of cell cultures required for assays of virions in beef extract eluates that is necessary in most laboratories.