Examination of Recreational Waters for the Presence Enteroviruses and aComparison with a Bacteriological Indicator Organism

摘要

The Great Lakes are one of the world's largest bodies of freshwater and are ofrngreat industrial, commercial and economic importance to the states andrnprovinces bordering them. Efforts to improve the quality of the Great Lakes,rnwhich have been underway for many years, are centered around making thernGreat Lakes a sustainable resource. In recent years, recreational use of thernGreat Lakes has seen a tremendous increase, due in part to the successes inrnremoving the pollutants already present in the lakes and reducing the furtherrndischarge of toxic pollutants into these waters. It is thus important to identify thernpotential pathogens that these users will be exposed to. In addition, because thernGreat Lakes provide drinking water to an estimated 40 million people in thernregion, it is also important to study the impact of human sewage and wastewaterrnon the waters in the Great Lakes basin. In this study, lake water samples werernanalyzed for the presence of enteric viruses as well as for genetic markers forrnEnterococcus faecium. Enteric viruses were detected in 8.3% of the samplesrntested (2 of 24) and the esp genetic marker from E. faecium was detected inrn31.7% (20 of 63) of the samples tested.