TITLE:
Investigation of Rotavirus Survival in Different Soil Fractions and Temperature Conditions
AUTHORS:
Paul C. Davidson, Theresa B. Kuhlenschmidt, Rabin Bhattarai, Prasanta K. Kalita, Mark S. Kuhlenschmidt
KEYWORDS:
Water Quality; Pathogens; Public Health; Fate and Transport
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.4 No.7A,
July
9,
2013
ABSTRACT: Rotavirus is a leading cause of
gastrointestinal illness worldwide. Rotavirus transmission occurs fecalorally,
and becomes a critical water quality issue when soil and water resources are
contaminated with feces. Transport of pathogens to surface water sources
depends on their survival in the soil, especially considering the fact that
large amounts of fecal material are often applied to agricultural lands as
fertilizer. In this study, rotavirus survival was investigated in three
different soil fractions and at three different temperatures (4℃, 25℃ and
37℃). A rotavirus suspension was mixed with whole soil, sand, and clay and
allowed to incubate for up to 18 days. Samples were collected daily to
investigate virus survival over time, which was quantified using a
tissue-culture infectivity assay. Results indicated, in the absence of any soil
particles, rotavirus survival was highest at 4℃, with survival decreasing as
temperature increased. These data also indicated whole soil had some protective
effect, allowing rotavirus to survive better in soil for the entire range of
temperatures and for more than a week at 37℃. The results also showed that
sand fractions were the most effective media for reducing rotavirus recovery at
all temperature conditions tested. Although the mechanism responsible for the
low recovery from sand is unknown, there is little or no infective rotavirus
extracted from sand fractions. This finding strongly supports the use of sand
as a filtering material to remove rotavirus from both point and nonpoint
sources of water pollution.