Exposure to enteroviruses and hepatitis A virus among divers in environmental waters in France, first biological and serological survey of a controlled cohort

Abstract

SUMMARYAn epidemiological study of hepatitis A and enteroviruses was conducted in a military diving training school, by evaluating the viral contamination of water using an ultrafiltration concentration technique, and assessing seroconversion and the presence of virus in stool specimens obtained from 109 divers and 48 controls. Three of 29 water specimens were positive for enterovirus by cell culture and 9 by molecular hybridization. There was little or no risk of virus infection during the training course (49 h exposure) because there was no significant difference between divers and controls for both viral isolation and seroconversion. However, a higher percentage of coxsackievirus B4 and B5 seropositive divers suggests that these were more exposed during previous water training. No hepatitis A virus (HAV) detection and no seroconversion to HAV was observed. The rate of HAV seropositive subjects was 17 % in this 24 5-year-old population.

Hepatitis A seroprevalence in public school children in Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, prior to the introduction of the hepatitis A universal childhood vaccination

“…Water has been identified as one of the main vehicles for HAV transmission that can occur during contact with contaminated surface water by feces, as well as consumption of contaminated water 43 . HAV has been isolated from surface waters which may be used for recreational purposes 44,45 and a number of HAV cases have been documented in association with the use of water for recreational purposes 46,47 .…”

Analytical Methods for Virus Detection in Water and Food

“…A variety of techniques have been described for the recovery of viruses from water-each with their own advantages and disadvantages as the physicochemical quality of the water, including but not limited to the pH, conductivity, turbidity, presence of particulate matter, and organic acids, can all affect the efficiency of recovery of viruses (Richards et al 2004). Viral recovery and concentration techniques include ultrafiltration (Soule et al 2000;Divizia et al 1989a;Garin et al 1994), adsorption-elution using filters or membranes (Gilgen et al 1997;Passagot et al 1985;Senouci et al 1996), glass wool (Vilaginès et al 1993;Vilaginès et al 1997) or glass powder (Gajardo et al 1991;Menut et al 1993), two-phase separation with polymers (Schwab et al 1993), flocculation (Nasser et al 1995;Backer 2002), and the use of monolithic chromatographic columns (Branovic et al 2003;Kramberger et al 2004;Kovac et al 2009;Gutierrez-Aguirre et al 2009). The use of the glass wool adsorption-elution procedure for the recovery of enteric viruses from large volumes of water has proven to be a cost-effective method and has successfully been applied for the routine recovery of human enteric viruses from large volumes of water in the South African setting (Taylor et al 2001;Van Heerden et al 2004, 2005Vivier et al 2001Vivier et al , 2002Vivier et al , 2004, 2006Venter 2004).…”

Viral Indicators of Hygienic-Sanitary Quality: Detection of Somatic Coliphages in the Southern Adriatic Sea

“…Viruses have been isolated from drinking water supplies, freshwater, seawater and shellfish that fulfil current criteria on bacterial indicators, revealing shortcomings in microbiological quality standards (Garin et al 1994;Gassilloud et al 2003;Vantarakis et al 2005). The measurement of anthropogenic impact indicators in bathing waters typically serves to determine whether the level of contamination of surface waters such as oceans, lakes, and rivers is high enough to pose a human risk, and therefore whether warnings should be issued or bathing waters closed to the public (Serrano et al 1998).…”