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The validity of using indicator organisms was tested to predict the presence of absence of pathogens at six wastewater reclamation facilities. A major goal of wastewater reclamation facilities is to reduce pathogen loads in order to decrease public health risks associated with exposure.

Research has been conducted on the virus adsorption to microporous filters. The effect of mono-, di- and trivalent salts on this adsorption has been investigated.

A TaqMan quantitative PCR (QPCR) assay is developed and optimized based on the conserved T antigen in order to quantify and detect two human polyomaviruses (HPyVs), JC virus and BK virus. The use of this quantitative assay in water quality research might help regulatory agencies in identifying sources of water pollution for improved remediation of contaminated waters and thus protecting humans from exposure to pathogens.

A method developed to concentrate and extract human polyomaviruses (HPyVs) DNA, which are used as indicators of human fecal pollution, from environmental water samples and to amplify it by nested PCR is presented. The sensitivity, specificity and correlation with other human-associated markers have indicated that the HPyV assay can be a useful predictor of human fecal pollution in environmental waters and an important component of the microbial-source-tracking toolbox.

Results indicate that ribotyping with a single restriction enzyme HindIII is not an effective method to differentiate Escherichia coli isolates within the same species or in samples collected from different geographical regions. However, the method differentiates E. coli from human or animal sources derived from a large geographic region.

This article describes the microbial source tracking methods, which trace fecal pollution using microbiological, genotypic, phenotypic, and chemical protocols. An overview of these methods and how they can be used to predict and identify sources of fecal pollution in the environemnt is presented. Current data indicate that there is no single approach for the identification specific sources of fecal pollution.

Several genotypic and phenotypic microbial source tracking (MST) methods have been proposed and utilized to differentiate groups of microorganisms, usually indicator organisms, for the purpose of tracking sources of fecal pollution. Targeting of host-specific microorganisms is one of the approaches currently being tested. These methods are useful as they circumvent the need to isolate individual microorganisms and do not require the establishment of reference databases. Several studies have demonstrated that the presence and distribution of Enterococcus spp. in feces seems to be influenced by the host species. Here, we present a method for detection of genetic sequences in culturable enterococci capable of identifying human sources of fecal pollution in the environment. The human fecal pollution marker designed in this study targets a putative virulence factor, the enterococcal surface protein (esp), in Enterococcus faecium. This gene was detected in 97% of sewage and septic samples but was not detected in any livestock waste lagoons or in bird or animal fecal samples. Epidemiological studies in recreational and groundwaters have shown enterococci to be useful indicators of public health risk for gastroenteritis. By identifying the presence of human fecal pollution, and therefore the possible presence of human enteric pathogens, this marker allows for further resolution of the source of this risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]