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Updated: Dec 11, 2025
Concentration of Virus Particles from Environmental Water and Wastewater Samples Using Skimmed Milk Flocculation and Ultrafiltration
Published on: March 17, 2023
Concentration methods for the quantification of coronavirus and other potentially pandemic enveloped virus from
Marta Rusiñol1,2, Sandra Martínez-Puchol1,3, Eva Forés1,3
1Section of Microbiology, Virology and Biotechnology, Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics. Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Abstract:
As the novel SARS-CoV-2 was detected in faeces, environmental researchers have been using centrifugal ultrafiltration, polyethylene glycol precipitation and aluminium hydroxide flocculation to describe its presence in wastewater samples. High recoveries (up to 65%) are described with electronegative filtration when using surrogate viruses, but few literature reports recovery efficiencies using accurate quantification of enveloped viruses. Considering that every single virus will have a different behaviour during viral concentration, it is recommended to use an enveloped virus, and if possible, a betacoronaviruses as murine hepatitis virus, as a surrogate. In this review, we show new data from a newly available technology that provides a quick ultrafiltration protocol for SARS-CoV-2. Wastewater surveillance is an efficient system for the evaluation of the relative prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in a community, and there is the need of using reliable concentration methods for an accurate and sensitive quantification of the virus in water.
