Aim: A new procedure was developed to recover adenovirus 41 in small volumes (1 l) of water samples based on adsorption, elution and evaporation.
Methods and results: One litre of source water seeded with adenovirus 41 was adjusted to pH 3·5 and filtered using a large pore size (8·0 μm) negatively charged membrane filter (SCWP, 47 mm diameter, made of mixed-cellulose esters). Then, the filter was eluted using 4 ml of 1·5% beef extract plus 0·75% glycerol (pH 9·0). The eluate was reconcentrated to 0·1 ml or less volumes through evaporation assisted with air flow and heating at 55°C. Recovery of adenovirus 41 reached 55% under tested conditions and reduced filtration time by 85% in contrast to the widely used small pore size filter (0·45 μm pore size, 47 mm diameter). Reconcentration by evaporation achieved approx. 86·8% recovery from source water in approx. 1 h at no cost.
Conclusion: The virus concentration method developed in this study is simple and cost-effective and can be used to efficiently recover adenovirus 41 from turbid water samples.
Significance and impact of the study: The procedure developed can be applied to detect adenovirus 41 in source water within hours of sampling. In addition, this is the first application of evaporation to concentrate viruses in water samples.
© 2011 The Authors. Journal of Applied Microbiology © 2011 The Society for Applied Microbiology.