Levels of human Rotaviruses and Noroviruses GII in urban rivers running through the city mirror their infection prevalence in populations

Abstract

Enteric viruses exposed to water pose a huge threat to global public health and can lead to waterborne disease outbreaks. A sudden increase in enteric viruses in some water matrices also underpins the prevalence of corresponding waterborne diseases in communities over the same time period. However, few efforts have been focused on water matrices whose viral pollution may best reflect the clinical prevalence in communities. Here, a one-year surveillance of human enteric viruses including Enteroviruses (EnVs), Rotaviruses (HRVs), Astroviruses (AstVs), Noroviruses GII (HuNoVsGII) and Mastadenoviruses (HAdVs) in four representative water matrices: an urban river (UR) running through city, effluent from Wastewater Treatment Plant (EW), raw water for Urban Water Treatment Plant (RW), and tap water (TW) were performed by qPCR. The relationship between the virus detection frequency at each site and their prevalence in clinical PCR assay was further analyzed. We found that the detection frequencies of HRVs, HuNoVsGII, and AstVs in stools peaked in winter, while EnVs peaked in autumn. No EnVs occurred in EW, RW, or TW, but HuNoVsGII and AstVs occurred intensively in winter. For UR, all types of enteric viruses could be detected and the levels of acute gastroenteritis viruses (HRVs, HuNoVsGII, AstVs, and HAdVs) were highest in autumn or winter, whereas EnVs peaked in summer. In terms of correlation analyses, only HRVs and HuNoVsGII levels in UR showed a strong positive correlation with their prevalence in clinical stool samples. This study indicated that HRVs and HuNoVsGII levels in URs may mirror the local virus prevalence, thereby implying the possibility of revealing their local epidemiology by monitoring them in the URs.

Detection and molecular characterization of enteric adenovirus in treated wastewater in the Brazilian Federal District

“…Virus particles should thus be considered as complementary measures to bacterial indicators, once the potential role of water in transmission of viruses and the outcomes should not be excluded. In addition, recent studies demonstrated the presence of several types of enteric viruses in water matrices, such as Rotaviruses A (RVA), Noroviruses (NoVs), Hepatoviruses (HVA) and Adenoviruses (HAdVs) [10,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. Some authors note that HAdVs can be used as virological indicators of human contamination and, consequently, a marker for water quality.…”

Research Progress on Biological Accumulation, Detection and Inactivation Technologies of Norovirus in Oysters

“…NoVs are the most common pathogenic cause of global outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis, with common symptoms, such as vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps [5,6]. NoVs are mainly transmitted via the fecal-oral route and have a high incidence in autumn and winter [7,8]. Human NoVs (HuNoVs) include GI, GII and GIV, with GII being the most common [9].…”

Norovirus and rotavirus in surface, malacoculture, and human consumption water in Santa Catarina State, Brazil

“…However, there is no correlation between bacterial contamination and the presence of enteric viruses (Qiu et al 2015). Viruses of fecal origin, such as Rotavirus (RVA) and Norovirus (NoVs), can be isolated from surface water sources, and several studies have already shown that their presence can compromise the quality of drinking water (fongaro et al 2015;Shi et al 2021).…”