In Situ Dynamics of F-Specific RNA Bacteriophages in a Small River: New Way to Assess Viral Propagation in Water Quality Studies

Abstract

The occurrence and propagation of enteric viruses in rivers constitute a major public health issue. However, little information is available on the in situ transport and spread of viruses in surface water. In this study, an original in situ experimental approach using the residence time of the river water mass was developed to accurately follow the propagation of F-specific RNA bacteriophages (FRNAPHs) along a 3-km studied river. Surface water and sediment of 9 sampling campaigns were collected and analyzed using both infectivity and RT-qPCR assays. In parallel, some physico-chemical variables such as flow rate, water temperature, conductivity and total suspended solids were measured to investigate the impact of environmental conditions on phage propagation. For campaigns with low flow rate and high temperature, the results highlight a decrease of infectious phage concentration along the river, which was successfully modelled according to a first-order negative exponential decay. The monitoring of infectious FRNAPHs belonging mainly to the genogroup II was confirmed with direct phage genotyping and total phage particle quantification. Reported k decay coefficients according to exponential models allowed for the determination of the actual in situ distance and time necessary for removing 90 % of infectious phage particles. This present work provides a new way to assess the true in situ viral propagation along a small river. These findings can be highly useful in water quality and risk assessment studies to determine the viral contamination spread from a point contamination source to the nearest recreational areas.

Estimation of the potential spread risk of COVID-19: Occurrence assessment along the Yangtze, Han, and Fu River basins in Hubei, China

“…According to the conventional treatment process, the virus removal efficiency θ is equal to 4 log, and δ is calculated via Eq. (5) ( Fauvel et al, 2016b ). …”

Influence of physico-chemical characteristics of sediment on thein situspatial distribution of F-specific RNA phages in the riverbed

“…A previous study revealed a viral contamination of the studied river section with an average of 1.4 ± 0.8 × 10 3 plaque forming units (PFU)/100 mL (n = 54) of infectious FRNAPHs in surface water (Fauvel et al . 2017a). In order to have a global overview of the bottom of the river, a square grid of nine sampling points (three points on the right bank of the river, three in the middle and three on the left bank of the river) were established at the defined sampling site.…”

“…The surface of the riverbed was vacuumed with a pump system (Fauvel et al . 2017a). In brief, a rigid plastic pipe was connected to a 50-L vacuum container and sediment samples were pumped into a sterile 1-L glass bottle.…”

“…2009; Fauvel et al . 2017a) in areas impacted by faecal pollution. The multiplication of FRNAPHs in the environment is quite unlikely and expected to have a no influence on microbial communities (Woody and Cliver 1995; Jofre 2009).…”

Storm Response of Fluvial Sedimentary Microplastics

“…As well as acting as a source, data from the sedimentological literature points towards river beds as being resilient sinks for contaminants including heavy metals, organic contaminants and microorganisms such as viral pathogens [8][9][10] . Limited research has shown this to also be the case for microplastics, where they can accumulate in sediments at an order of magnitude higher than in the overlying water column 11 .…”