title: Somatic coliphages as surrogates for enteroviruses in sludge hygienization treatments.
abstract: Conventional bacterial indicators present serious drawbacks giving information about viral pathogens persistence during sludge hygienization treatments. This calls for the search of alternative viral indicators. Somatic coliphages' (SOMCPH) ability for acting as surrogates for enteroviruses was assessed in 47 sludge samples subjected to novel treatment processes. SOMCPH, infectious enteroviruses and genome copies of enteroviruses were monitored. Only one of these groups, the bacteriophages, was present in the sludge at concentrations that allowed the evaluation of treatment's performance. An indicator/pathogen relationship of 4 log10 (PFU/g dw) was found between SOMCPH and infective enteroviruses and their detection accuracy was assessed. The obtained results and the existence of rapid and standardized methods encourage the inclusion of SOMCPH quantification in future sludge directives. In addition, an existing real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for enteroviruses was adapted and applied.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, Barcelona 08028, Spain and The Water Research Institute, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 684, Barcelona 08034, Spain E-mail: flucena@ub.edu.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martín-Díaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, Barcelona 08028, Spain and The Water Research Institute, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 684, Barcelona 08034, Spain E-mail: flucena@ub.edu.
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Casas-Mangas
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, Barcelona 08028, Spain and The Water Research Institute, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 684, Barcelona 08034, Spain E-mail: flucena@ub.edu.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: García-Aljaro
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, Barcelona 08028, Spain and The Water Research Institute, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 684, Barcelona 08034, Spain E-mail: flucena@ub.edu.
authors.forename: Anicet R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Blanch
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, Barcelona 08028, Spain and The Water Research Institute, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 684, Barcelona 08034, Spain E-mail: flucena@ub.edu.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lucena
mesh_terms: D003090:Coliphages / Q000502:physiology*; D004770:Enterovirus / Q000502:physiology*; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage