Concentration of enteroviruses from large volumes of turbid estuary water

A method is described for the efficient concentration of viruses from large volumes of highly turbid estuary water. Virus in acidified seawater in the presence of aluminium chloride is adsorbed to a 10-in. (about 25.4 cm) fibreglass depth cartridge and 2- and 0.65-μm epoxy-fibreglass filters in series. This filter series is capable of efficiently adsorbing enteroviruses from 50 U.S. gallons (about 190 l) of estuary water of varying salinity and turbidity. Adsorbed viruses were eluted from the filters with glycine buffer (pH 11.5) and the eluate reconcentrated by using a precipitate formed by the addition of ferric chloride. Viruses were eluted from this precipitate with fetal calf serum. Using this procedure, four different enteroviruses in 50 gallons (about 190 l) of estuary water were concentrated 9000-to 12000-fold with an overall efficiency of 41%.