Failure of indicator bacteria to reflect the occurrence of enteroviruses in marine waters

C.P. Gerba, S.M. Goyal, R.L. LaBelle and G.F. Bodgan

American Journal of Public Health, 1979, vol. 69, issue 11, 1116-1119

Abstract: The results of several studies conducted along the upper Texas Gulf coast, where a substantial amount of quantitative virological data were collected, are compared to bacteriological indicators and other environmental factors on a statistical basis. Variables common to all these studies were analyzed by multivariate regression. Although multivariate analysis indicated that the number of viruses detected in water was related to rainfall, salinity, and total coliforms in the water, the amount of variation in the number of viruses accounted for by these factors was not large enough to make them good predictors. Enteroviruses were detected 43 per cent of the time in recreational waters considered acceptable as judged by coliform standards, and 44 per cent of the time when judged by fecal coliform standards. Enteroviruses were detected 35 per cent of the time in waters which met acceptable standards for shellfish-harvesting. Our failure to correlate the occurrence of enteroviruses in marine waters with indicator bacteria, and the frequent occurrence of enteroviruses in water which met current bacteriological standards, indicates that these standards do not reflect the occurrence of enteroviruses, and perhaps other human pathogenic viruses, in marine waters.

Date: 1979
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.69.11.1116

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.69.11.1116_8

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.69.11.1116

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().