Coliphages as ecological indicators of enteroviruses in various water systems

The occurrence of coliphages and enteroviruses in a variety of water systems in Czechoslovakia was monitored for two years. Two host strains of Escherichia coli bacteria were used to test 1161 water samples for the presence of bacteriophages. These strains were polyvalent hosts for a broad spectrum of morphologically distinct coliphages, and their use thus gave quantitative data on the degree of viral pollution in any given water sample. Ninety-two water samples were tested in parallel for the presence of enteroviruses, by using a flocculation method to concentrate the viruses followed by isolation in cultures of a buffalo green monkey (BGM) kidney continuous cell line. The enterovirus and coliphage recovery rates showed similar differences when waters with different levels of pollution were compared. Seasonal fluctuations of both the coliphage and enterovirus (mostly poliovirus) levels in river water were demonstrated by statistical analysis of the data collected. The levels increased in the winter and sharply declined in the summer months as the river water temperature increased. Chemical pollution did not seem to influence the survival of either the coliphages or the enteroviruses in the observed rivers.