ISOLATION OF APPARENTLY WILD STRAINS OF POLIOVIRUS TYPE-1 FROM SEWAGE IN OTTAWA AREA

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  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 116  (1) , 25-27
Abstract
In the first 4 mo. of 1974, 140 gauze pad samples of sewage collected in the Ottawa [Ontario, Canada] area were analyzed by the [African green monkey kidney] BS-C-1 cell system for the presence of viruses pathogenic for humans. Viruses were isolated from 111 (79%) of the samples. Of the 72 (65%) isolates identified by serology and EM examination, 56 (78%) were reoviruses and 16 (22%), enteroviruses. The enterovirus isolates included 1 coxsackievirus B4, 1 vaccine strain of poliovirus type 3, 9 vaccine strains of poliovirus type 1 and 5 strains of poliovirus type 1 that proved by serodifferentiation and temperature marker tests to be different from vaccine strains. The fact that these strains were present in the community sewage in readily detectable concentrations at a time when immunity against polioviruses is declining in such communities is a cause for concern.