D. Menard

Comparative study of the behaviour of poliovirus in sterile seawater using RT-PCR and cell culture

Abstract Survival of poliovirus 1 was determined in sterile seawater at different salinity levels by detection of viral RNA by RT-PCR and comparison with tissue culture infectivity assay. Salinity appeared to have little influence on the behaviour of infectious particles: times necessary to obtain negative results by cell culture were not statistically different for the three salinities tested. Viral RNA was always detected by RT-PCR showing that in sterile medium viral particles can persist in a noninfectious form.

Enterovirus genome detection in wastewater: multi centric evaluation of a commercial kit

A multi-centric study was carried out in three laboratories, to evaluate the efficiency of a standardized kit for the detection of enterovirus genome in wastewater. Twenty one samples of 20 liters of wastewater were analyzed before and after concentration through glass wool. Each sample was analyzed with the Amplicor kit as well as with techniques developed independently in each laboratory. The results show that the Amplicor kit is well suited to the detection of enterovirus genome in treated wastewater. The results may be compared to those obtained with semi-nested RT-PCR techniques used in each laboratory. However, the Amplicor kit technique is more simple and has the advantage of providing a standardized technique useful for comparative studies. During this work it was observed that the sensitivity of the detection of infectious viruses and virus genome was improved when concentrated samples were used for analysis.