Bacteriophage PRD1 as a potential surrogate for adenovirus in drinking water disinfection with free chlorine, low pressure ultraviolet light, and sunlight

摘要

Waterborne pathogens are increasingly a worldwide concern in drinking water because of their ability to cause high levels of morbidity and mortality. Especially in developing regions, a lack of access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, and resources to implement water treatment processes contributes to the spread of pathogens. Emerging pathogens are also of concern in water treatment for communities in developed regions as they can be highly resistant to specific treatment technologies. Viruses are of particular concern in water treatment not only because of their virulence and ability to have high resistance to inactivation, but also because of the limited knowledge available. Human pathogenic viruses are not easy to study in the laboratory or in the field because of strict biosafety regulations and the use of expensive cell culture methods that are time consuming. Often it is not practical to perform testing with human pathogens, and therefore surrogates can be used. Currently, there is a need to develop proper surrogates especially for adenovirus, a human enteric pathogen found globally in drinking water sources. Adenovirus is known to be highly resistant to disinfection technologies such as ultraviolet (UV) light, combined chlorine, and solar disinfection. A potential surrogate for adenovirus is the bacteriophage PRD1 because of its similar size, morphology, and genome replication mechanism. The objective of this research was to compare the inactivation kinetics of PRD1 with that of adenovirus when exposed to free chlorine, low pressure ultraviolet light, and solar disinfection to determine if PRD1 is an appropriate surrogate. Using PRD1 as a surrogate would enable field testing to determine the efficacy of current and emerging water treatment technologies, more rapid and non virulent laboratory experiments, and the use of a surrogate for determining the mechanisms of inactivation of adenovirus.