Virological Investigations of the River Danube

Abstract

Summary:The investigation was performed inMarch 1988 a t 24 stations from the delta (km 16) up to Vienna (km 1,940) and yielded positive findings at 13 stations with 0.135 t o 1.24 MPN/I (5 0.599 MPN/I). Of the 37 strains detected, 12 Coxsackie-B and 11 ECHO serotypes were identified. Other 14 strains were electron-optically classified as picorna viruses (5), adeno viruses (7) and isometric viruses (2). Rotaviruses were detected by means of the indirect immunofluorescence in 15 of 17 samples, whereas Hepatitis-A viruses could not be detected (gene-probe technique). In the longitudinal section of the river, two stretches with a high virus load were found: in the Bulgarian-Yugoslavian reach of the Danube with the maximum a t the river-kilometre 1,078 and in the Hungarian-Czechoslovakian reach with the maximum a t the river-kilometre 1,819. The virus load in these reaches was 6 -1011 and 2 * 1011 MPN/d, respectively. Rotaviruses were found above all in the Delta region as well as downstream of Belgrade. The results show pronounced virological risks, especially for the obtaining of drinking water. Future research is required mainly into the behaviour of viruses in existing and planned barrages of the Danube as well as in the infiltrat.ion from the river into the groundwater.

Viruses, bacteria and suspended particles in a backwater and main channel site of the Danube (Austria)

“…Walter et al (1989), for example, found a close connection between a sewage index and the determined virus levels. From the lower reach of the Danube River, Walter et al (1990) reported on a pronounced virological risk in connection with producing drinking water. Skraber et al (2002) concluded that bacteriophages are good indicators for pathogenic microorganisms present in water of the Moselle River.…”