Chapter 9 The Detection of Waterborne Viruses

Area of Science:

• Environmental virology
• Water quality analysis
• Microbiology

Background:

• Viruses in water are often at concentrations too low for direct detection.
• Virological analysis of water necessitates a multi-stage process: virus concentration followed by detection.
• Existing detection methods have limitations in identifying infectious viral particles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the challenges in detecting low concentrations of viruses in water.
• To review current virological investigation methods for water samples.
• To highlight the need for novel approaches to detect infectious viruses.

Main Methods:

• Concentration of viruses from water samples.
• Detection of infectious viruses using cell culture (e.g., plaque-forming units, tissue culture infectious dose, most probable number).
• Detection using immunoperoxidase or immunofluorescence staining for non-cytopathogenic viruses.
• Molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR for viral detection.

Main Results:

• Cell culture can enumerate infectious viruses but may miss those that don't cause cytopathic effects.
• Immunostaining can detect some viruses missed by cell culture.
• Molecular methods like PCR are sensitive but often do not detect infectious viral particles.
• There is an ongoing need for methods that reliably detect infectious viruses in water.

Conclusions:

• Virological analysis of water is complex, requiring concentration and specific detection techniques.
• Current methods, including cell culture and PCR, have inherent limitations.
• Novel approaches are being developed to overcome the challenge of detecting infectious waterborne viruses.