Investigation of Human and Animal Viruses in Water Matrices from a Rural Area in Southeastern Region of Brazil and Their Potential Use as Microbial Source-Tracking Markers

Abstract

This study assessed the sources of contamination of water matrices in a rural area using detection of a host-specific virus (human adenovirus [HAdV], porcine adenovirus [PAdV] and bovine polyomaviruses [BoPyV]) as potential microbial sourcetracking tool, and rotavirus A [RVA], given its epidemiological importance in Brazil. From July 2017 to June 2018, 92 samples were collected from eight points (P1-P8) of surface and raw waters in southeastern region of Brazil. Fifty-five (59.8%) were positive for HAdV, 41 (44.5%) for RVA, 10 (10.9%) for PAdV and four (4.3%) for BoPyV. HAdV and RVA were detected at all sites, and over the entire sampling period, PAdV was detected at a porcine breeding area and at Guarda River site, presenting high concentrations up to 2.6 × 10 9 genome copies per liter [GC/L], and viral concentrations ranging from 9.6 × 10 1 to 7.1 × 10 7 , while BoPyV (1.5 × 10 4 GC/L-9.2 × 10 5 GC/L) was only detected in samples from the bovine breeding areas. The combination of human and animal virus circulation presents a potential impact in the environment due to raw sewage discharge from regional communities, as well as potential hazard to human and animal health.

Investigation of Salmonella, Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) and Viral Indicators of Fecal Contamination in Four Italian Pig Slaughterhouses, 2021-2022

“…As hygienic indicators, bacteria such as aerobic bacterial colony counts (ACCs) and Escherichia coli colony counts (ECCs) are commonly used but may not be adequate at predicting virus contamination. Some viruses are common in pigs, such as porcine adenovirus (PAdV) in feces and torque teno virus (TTV) in blood and could be useful as indicator of swine fecal (Dos Santos et al, 2023) and blood contamination (TTSuV) (Brassard et al, 2008). Porcine adenovirus, a double strand DNA virus, is also frequently present in asymptomatic pigs at slaughter and released in feces (Di Bartolo et al, 2012).…”