Quantitative Detection and Characterization of Human Adenoviruses in the Buffalo River in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

Abstract

Buffalo River is an important water resource in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Over a 1-year period (August 2010-July 2011), we assessed the prevalence of human adenoviruses (HAdVs) at a total of 6 sites on the river and three dams along its course. HAdVs were detected by real-time quantitative PCR in about 35 % of the samples with concentrations ranging from 1.2 × 10(1) genome copies (GC)/l to 4.71 × 10(3) GC/l. HAdVs were detected at 5 of the 6 sampling sites with the detection rate ranging from 8.3 % at Rooikrantz Dam to 92 % at Parkside. The HAdV concentrations across the sampling sites were as follows: Parkside (3.25 × 10(2)-4.71 × 10(3) GC/); King William's Town (1.02 × 10(2)-4.56 × 10(3) GC/l); and Eluxolzweni (1.17 × 10(2)-3.97 × 10(2) GC/l). Significantly (P < 0.05) higher concentrations were detected at the non-dam sites compared to the dam sites. A very low mean concentration of 1.86 × 10(1) HAdV GC/l was observed at Bridle Drift Dam. While HAdVs were detected only once at Rooikrantz Dam (1.74 × 10(1) GC/l), no HAdV was detected at Maden Dam. Epidemiologically important serotypes, Ad40/41, constituted 83.3 %, while Ad21 made up 16.7 % of the all HAdVs detected and were characterized by qualitative PCR. The Buffalo River presents a public health risk heightened by the presence of Ad 40/41 and Ad21. Our results make imperative the need for assessing water sources for viral contamination in the interest of public health. This work is a significant contribution to the molecular epidemiology of adenoviruses and to the best of our knowledge this is the first report on detection of enteric virus from surface waters in the Eastern Cape.

Quantitative PCR Detection and Characterisation of Human Adenovirus, Rotavirus and Hepatitis A Virus in Discharged Effluents of Two Wastewater Treatment Facilities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

“…Presently, the microbiological quality of effluents is still largely assessed by means of faecal coliform in South Africa, while adequate information on the virological quality of discharged effluents is deficient. A number of studies have documented the virological qualities of some freshwater resources in the country (Grabow et al 2004; van Zyl et al 2006; Olaniran et al 2012; Chigor and Okoh 2012) but similar information on the significance and epidemiological importance of enteric viruses from wastewater effluent discharges into the environment have not been fully elucidated. Moreover, environmental surveillance is important in a developing country like South Africa where appropriate system for outbreak reporting and surveillance is deficient.…”

Viral indicators for tracking domestic wastewater contamination in the aquatic environment

“…In the studies evaluated in this review, the AdV qPCR assays targeted all human AdV groups (A-G), the most common groups (A-F) or specific groups (C and F; Table S1). All of these groups are human-specific, demonstrating that waterborne infections of AdV F (predominantly type 41) are the most prevalent in wastewater and in the aquatic environment (Bofill-Mas et al, 2010;Chigor and Okoh, 2012;Fong et al, 2010;Fumian et al, 2013;Haramoto et al, 2007;Hewitt et al, 2011;Iaconelli et al, 2017;Ibrahim et al, 2018;Lun et al, 2019;Myrmel et al, 2015;Ogorzaly et al, 2015;Shih et al, 2017). The most common PyVs associated with wastewater are the JC and BK strains (Table S2), however, MC PyV is also found in wastewater and in wastewater-contaminated water (Di Bonito et al, 2014;Rusiñol et al, 2015).…”

The recovery and molecular identification of HAdV-D17 in raw sewage and mussel samples collected in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa

“…3,4 Adenoviruses have been detected in river, raw and treated drinking water in South Africa. 5 Recent studies have reported a prevalence of HAdV in the Buffalo River, 6 Tyume River, 7 and final effluents of wastewater treatment plants in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. 8 These studies screened for adenovirus-associated infections in humans, including gastroenteritis (HAdV-F40 and HAdV-F41), respiratory tract infections (HAdV-C1, HAdV-C2, HAdV-C5, HAdV-C6, HAdV-B21 and HAdV-E4), urinary tract infections (HAdV-B21) and eye infections (HAdV-B3 and HAdV-B7).…”