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Poliovirus surveillance by examining sewage specimens. Quantitative recovery of virus after introduction into sewerage at remote upstream location

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2001

T. HOVI ,
M. STENVIK ,
H. PARTANEN  and
A. KANGAS
T. HOVI
Affiliation:
Enterovirus Laboratory, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Poliomyelitis, National Public Health Institute (KTL), Helsinki, Finland
M. STENVIK
Affiliation:
Enterovirus Laboratory, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Poliomyelitis, National Public Health Institute (KTL), Helsinki, Finland
H. PARTANEN
Affiliation:
Enterovirus Laboratory, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Poliomyelitis, National Public Health Institute (KTL), Helsinki, Finland
A. KANGAS
Affiliation:
Helsinki Water, City of Helsinki, Finland
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Abstract

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In order to assess the feasibility of environmental poliovirus surveillance, known amounts of poliovirus type 1, strain Sabin, were flushed into the sewage network of Helsinki. Grab specimens collected at a remote downstream location and concentrated about a 100-fold revealed infectious poliovirus on four successive days in all three separate experiments. As for concentration, a simple two-phase separation method was found to be at least as useful as a several-fold more resource-demanding polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation method. Recovery of the introduced virus was remarkably high (more than 10%). Using the current system, it might be possible to detect poliovirus circulation in a population of 700 000 people by examining a single 400 ml sewage specimen, if 1 out of 10000 inhabitants were excreting the virus. It is concluded that environmental surveillance is a sensitive approach to monitor silent poliovirus circulation in populations served by a sewage network.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 127 , Issue 1 , August 2001 , pp. 101 - 106
Copyright
2001 Cambridge University Press