Enteric Viruses
- Most common cause of water and food borne illnesses today
- <5% water borne illnesses are caused by man-made
chemicals
- Direct sources of water contamination
- raw or partially treated sewage
- sludge
- boat dumping
- Indirect sources of water contamination
- surface runoff
- groundwater contamination
- resuspension of contaminated sediments
- Survival in the Marine Environment
- previously assumed to be less in fresh water
- laboratory survival studies in marine water
- 2-130 days (> in coliform bacteria)
- isolated from sediments and crabs
- 18 months after sludge disposal
- Hepatitus A survival appears
to be long
- >> most other enteroviruses
- “Information on the curvival of Norwalk virus,
small round viruses, calciviruses, and astroviruses in water is nonexistent”
- Norwalk Virus (rotavirus)
- outbreak in Norwalk, Ohio (1970s)
- ~1/2 of all babies and young children hospitalized with
diarrhea are infected with rotaviruses
- => billions of cases of diarrhea/year
- => millions of deaths/year in poor countries
- associated with “classic filth agents”
- drinking water
- swimming areas
- uncooked foods
- other fecal-oral routes
- vaccines are not available
