Inactivation of Giardia lamblia cysts by polychromatic UV.
OBJECTIVE
Giardia lamblia is one of the most important waterborne pathogens in the world. In this study, we determined the effectiveness of a promising alternative UV technology - a polychromatic emission from a medium-pressure (MP) UV lamp - against G. lamblia cysts in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and a filtered drinking water.


RESULTS
A UV collimated beam apparatus was used to expose shallow suspensions of purified G. lamblia cysts in PBS or a filtered drinking water and the UV-irradiated G. lamblia cysts were assayed in Mongolian gerbils. The inactivation of G. lamblia cysts was very rapid and reached a detection limit of >3 log(10) within a UV dose of 1 mJ cm(-2).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study indicate that MP UV irradiation is very effective against G. lamblia cysts in both PBS and a filtered drinking water.


CONCLUSIONS
It is likely that contamination of drinking water by G. lamblia cysts can be readily controlled by typical MP UV disinfection practises.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. gwyam@u.washington.edu
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D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000528:radiation effects; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D005849:Gerbillinae; D016829:Giardia lamblia / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development*; D005873:Giardiasis / Q000469:parasitology; D006801:Humans; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000528:radiation effects; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays