Simple concentration method for bacteriophages of Bacteroides fragilis in drinking water.

A membrane of inorganic material with a honeycomb pore structure was used to concentrate phages infecting Bacteroides fragilis from drinking water. Phages were removed from the membrane with 0.25 M glycine buffer pH 9.5. Phages were not inactivated by storage in this buffer neutralized to pH 7.0 for at least 9 days at 4 degrees C. The method allows recovery of around 50% in drinking water. When the turbidity of the water increased, the efficiency of the concentration decreased markedly. The efficiency of concentration was evaluated versus a presence/absence test in 317 water samples with turbidity level below the threshold of drinking water. Results obtained by concentration of 11 provided data which were significantly more informative than the presence/absence tests carried out on 100 ml. A number of additional tests carried out with both somatic and F-specific coliphages indicated that these conclusions can be extended to these groups of bacteriophages.