Improved method and test strategy for recovery of enteric viruses from shellfish

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Virology
• Food Safety

Background:

• Enteric viruses in shellfish pose a significant public health risk.
• Accurate detection of low virus concentrations is crucial for food safety assessments.
• Existing methods often struggle with efficient virus recovery from complex shellfish matrices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an improved recovery method and testing strategy for enteric viruses in commercially important shellfish.
• To optimize sample preparation and cell culture techniques for enhanced virus detection sensitivity.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of different contaminant removal methods.

Main Methods:

• A novel recovery method and testing strategy were applied to three shellfish species.
• Key parameters optimized included sample composition, pool size, and cell culture inoculation.
• Sequential adsorption procedures and antibiotic treatment for contaminant removal were employed.

Main Results:

• The improved method achieved high recovery sensitivity, detecting as few as 25 PFU of enteroviruses and 100 PFU of reoviruses.
• Average recovery efficiencies were 64% for enteroviruses and 46% for reoviruses.
• Antibiotic treatment proved superior to ether or membrane filtration for removing nonviral contaminants, yielding cytotoxicity-free samples.

Conclusions:

• The developed method significantly improves the detection of low-level enteric viruses in shellfish.
• Optimized testing strategies, including sequential adsorption and antibiotic treatment, are critical for effective virus recovery.
• This approach enhances the reliability of shellfish safety testing and public health protection.