[Sewage sludges: application of a technique for recovering Enterovirus]

The aim of this work was to develop a technique to recover viruses from sewage sludges and to set a microbiological reliable index to control the efficiency of waste-water disinfection methods. Twelve samples were collected at San Felipe treatment plant, where the waste-water from Tucumán, Argentina, is received. To free virus from solids, sludges were shaken during 20 h at 4 degrees C and supernatants were obtained by centrifugation. Penicillin, streptomycin, neomycin and amphotericin B were added to avoid the development of contaminating flora. Samples were inoculated in Vero and HeLa cells and Enterovirus (Echo 7, Echo 11 and Echo 21) were isolated from five samples.