title: Comparison of two filtration-elution procedures to improve the standard methods ISO 10705-1 & 2 for bacteriophage detection in groundwater, surface water and finished water samples.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To select a reliable method for bacteriophage concentration prior detection by culture from surface water, groundwater and drinking water to enhance the sensitivity of the standard methods ISO 10705-1 & 2.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Artificially contaminated (groundwater and drinking water) and naturally contaminated (surface water) 1-litre samples were processed for bacteriophages detection. The spiked samples were inoculated with about 150 PFU of F-specific RNA bacteriophages and somatic coliphages using wastewater. Bacteriophage detection in the water samples was achieved using the standard method without and with a concentration step (electropositive Anodisc membrane or a pretreated electronegative Micro Filtration membrane, MF). For artificially contaminated matrices (drinking and ground waters), recovery rates using the concentration step were superior to 70% whilst analyses without concentration step mainly led to false negative results. Besides, the MF membrane presented higher performances compared with the Anodisc membrane.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The concentration of a large volume of water (up to one litre) on a filter membrane avoids false negative results obtained by direct analysis as it allows detecting low number of bacteriophages in water samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The addition of concentration step before applying the standard method could be useful to enhance the reliability of bacteriophages monitoring in water samples as bio-indicators to highlight faecal pollution.
authors.affiliation: Veolia Environnement Recherche & Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, 1 Place de Turenne, St Maurice Cedex, France. karim.helmi@veolia.com
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Helmi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Charni-Ben-Tabassi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Delabre
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arnal
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000821:virology; D003090:Coliphages / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods*; D005618:Fresh Water; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods*; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014876:Water Pollution; D014881:Water Supply