title: Technical aspects of using human adenovirus as a viral water quality indicator.
abstract: Despite dramatic improvements in water treatment technologies in developed countries, waterborne viruses are still associated with many of cases of illness each year. These illnesses include gastroenteritis, meningitis, encephalitis, and respiratory infections. Importantly, outbreaks of viral disease from waters deemed compliant from bacterial indicator testing still occur, which highlights the need to monitor the virological quality of water. Human adenoviruses are often used as a viral indicator of water quality (faecal contamination), as this pathogen has high UV-resistance and is prevalent in untreated domestic wastewater all year round, unlike enteroviruses and noroviruses that are often only detected in certain seasons. Standard methods for recovering and measuring adenovirus numbers in water are lacking, and there are many variations in published methods. Since viral numbers are likely under-estimated when optimal methods are not used, a comprehensive review of these methods is both timely and important. This review critically evaluates how estimates of adenovirus numbers in water are impacted by technical manipulations, such as during adenovirus concentration and detection (including culturing and polymerase-chain reaction). An understanding of the implications of these issues is fundamental to obtaining reliable estimation of adenovirus numbers in water. Reliable estimation of HAdV numbers is critical to enable improved monitoring of the efficacy of water treatment processes, accurate quantitative microbial risk assessment, and to ensure microbiological safety of water.
authors.affiliation: Genecology Research Centre, School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Dr, Sippy Downs, Queensland, 4556, Australia.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rames
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Australia; Smart Water Research Centre, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Edmund Rice Drive, Queensland, 4222, Australia.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roiko
authors.affiliation: Smart Water Research Centre, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Edmund Rice Drive, Queensland, 4222, Australia; School of Natural Sciences, Griffith University, Australia.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stratton
authors.affiliation: Genecology Research Centre, School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Dr, Sippy Downs, Queensland, 4556, Australia; Division of Experimental Therapeutics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. Electronic address: jmacdon1@usc.edu.au.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Macdonald
mesh_terms: D000260:Adenoviruses, Human; D004770:Enterovirus; D006801:Humans; D062065:Wastewater / Q000821:virology; D014871:Water Microbiology; D060753:Water Quality
chemical_list: D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Adenovirus; ICC-qPCR; Viral culture; Viral enumeration; Water quality; qPCR