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Viral indicators for tracking domestic wastewater contamination in the aquatic environment
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Viral indicators for tracking domestic wastewater contamination in the aquatic environment

Kata Farkas, David Walker, Evelien M. Adriaenssens, James E. McDonald, Luke S. Hillary, Shelagh K. Malham and Davey L. Jones
Water research (Oxford), Vol.181, 115926
2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.115926
PMID: 32417460
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CC BY V4.0,  Open Access

Abstract

Engineering Engineering, Environmental Environmental Sciences Environmental Sciences & Ecology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Physical Sciences Science & Technology Technology Water Resources
Waterborne enteric viruses are an emerging cause of disease outbreaks and represent a major threat to global public health. Enteric viruses may originate from human wastewater and can undergo rapid transport through aquatic environments with minimal decay. Surveillance and source apportionment of enteric viruses in environmental waters is therefore essential for accurate risk management. However, individual monitoring of the >100 enteric viral strains that have been identified as aquatic contaminants is unfeasible. Instead, viral indicators are often used for quantitative assessments of wastewater contamination, viral decay and transport in water. An ideal indicator for tracking wastewater contamination should be (i) easy to detect and quantify, (ii) source-specific, (iii) resistant to wastewater treatment processes, and (iv) persistent in the aquatic environment, with similar behaviour to viral pathogens. Here, we conducted a comprehensive review of 127 peer-reviewed publications, to critically evaluate the effectiveness of several viral indicators of wastewater pollution, including common enteric viruses (mastadenoviruses, polyomaviruses, and Aichi viruses), the pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), and gut-associated bacteriophages (Type II/III FRNA phages and phages infecting human Bacteroides species, including crAssphage). Our analysis suggests that overall, human mastadenoviruses have the greatest potential to indicate contamination by domestic wastewater due to their easy detection, culturability, and high prevalence in wastewater and in the polluted environment. Aichi virus, crAssphage and PMMoV are also widely detected in wastewater and in the environment, and may be used as molecular markers for human-derived contamination. We conclude that viral indicators are suitable for the long-term monitoring of viral contamination in freshwater and marine environments and that these should be implemented within monitoring programmes to provide a holistic assessment of microbiological water quality and wastewater-based epidemiology, improve current risk management strategies and protect global human health. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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128 Times Cited - Web of Science

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
1 Clinical & Life Sciences
1.246 Diarrheal Diseases
1.246.710 Enteric Viruses
Web Of Science research areas
Engineering, Environmental
Environmental Sciences
Water Resources
ESI research areas
Environment/Ecology
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