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Updated: May 19, 2026
VirWaTest, A Point-of-Use Method for the Detection of Viruses in Water Samples
Published on: May 11, 2019
[The establishment and application of the method with virus concentration and detection in drinking water]
Xiao-yan Ye1, Wen-qing Xiao, Xia-ning Huang
1MOE Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
Objective:
This study aimed to construct an effective method to concentrate and detect virus in drinking water, and human adenovirus pollution status in actual water samples was monitored by constructed method.
Methods:
The concentration efficient of NanoCeram filter for the first concentration with source water and drinking water and the concentration efficient of the different concentrations of PEG 8000 for the second concentration were assessed by spiking f₂ bacteriophage into water samples. The standard of human adenovirus for real-time PCR was constructed by T-A clone. The plasmid obtained was identified through sequence analyzing and consistency check comparing to target gene fragment was conducted by using blast algorithm. Then, real-time PCR was constructed to quantify the concentration of human adenovirus using the plasmid as standard. Water samples were concentrated by using NanoCeram filter on the spot and then concentrated for the second time by PEG/NaCl in 2011. The DNA of concentrated samples were extracted for the quantification of human adenovirus in real-time PCR subsequently to monitor the pollution of human adenovirus in water.
Results:
For the first concentration by NanoCeram filter, the recovery rates were (51.63 ± 26.60)% in source water and (50.27 ± 14.35)% in treated water, respectively. For the second concentration, the highest recovery rate was reached to (90.09 ± 10.50)% at the concentration of 0.13 kg/L of PEG 8000. The sequence identity score of standard of adenovirus for real time PCR and adenovirus gene was 99%, implying that it can be successfully used to quantification with human adenovirus. The levels of human adenovirus in the water samples sampled in 2011 ranged from 4.13×10³ to 2.20×10⁶ copies/L in source water, while range from 5.57×10² to 7.52×10⁵ copies/L in treated water and the removal efficiency range was (75.49 ± 11.71)%.
Conclusion:
NanoCeram filers combined with PEG/NaCl was an effective method to concentrate virus in aquatic environment. There was a large number of human adenovirus in source water, and it is not sufficient to remove them thoroughly through conventional water treatment processes.
