Simple method of concentrating enteroviruses and hepatitis A virus from sewage and ocean water for rapid detection by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

A rapid and simple method was developed to detect enteroviruses and hepatitis A virus (HAV) in sewage and ocean water. Sewage samples were concentrated by Centriprep-100 and Centricon-100 at 1,000 x g. Samples collected from estuary and near-shore surf zone ocean water in Southern California were concentrated by vortex flow filtration and microconcentration. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), with enterovirus primers or HAV capsid-specific primers, was used to detect enteroviruses or HAV in all concentrated samples. A nonradioactive internal probe was used to confirm the amplified products. Results of seeding experiments indicated that at 4 degrees C, HAV was more persistent than poliovirus in seawater and both HAV and poliovirus persisted longer at 4 degrees C than at 25 degrees C. RT-PCR was at least 500-fold more sensitive than cell culture. Results were obtained within 5 h by RT-PCR, in contrast with the 5 days to 3 weeks required for cell culture.