Occurrence of Torque Teno Virus, a Potential Viral Pathogen Indicator, in Feces and Source Waters

摘要

For over one hundred years, indicator organisms such as coliforms have been measured as anrnindex of public health risk from transmission of waterborne diseases. However, outbreaksrnhave occurred in systems with negative coliform results, and no discernable public healthrnoutcomes have resulted as a consequence of positive results. The lack of correlation betweenrncoliforms and disease outcomes demonstrates the limitations of coliform indicators. Inrnparticular, coliforms respond differently to environmental stressors and to engineeredrntreatment processes than viral pathogens. A viral indicator may be more appropriate tornindicate the health risks of infectious viruses. Torque Teno virus (TTV) is a potentialrnindicator for viral pathogens. It is a small, unenveloped ssDNA virus that was first discoveredrnin 1997. TTV occurs worldwide in humans, occurs in different serotypes between non-humanrnanimals and humans, does not appear to be associated with any significant morbidity, andrnappears to exhibit similar transport characteristics as pathogenic enteric viruses. This researchrnis aimed at assessing the utility of TTV as an appropriate viral pathogen indicator in drinkingrnwater sources. This presentation will detail the development of the TTV assay, and comparernassay results to prior work utilizing similar and different protocols. The overall objective is torndevelop a new, reliable, efficient indicator system for viral pathogen risk.