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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2007, p. 6468-6474, Vol. 73, No. 20
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01370-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Seasonal Detection of Human Viruses and Coliphage in Newport Bay, California

Sunny C. Jiang,^* Weiping Chu, and Jian-Wen He

Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California

Received 20 June 2007/ Accepted 13 August 2007

Recent studies have shown that the fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) currently used to indicate water quality in the coastal environment may be inadequate to reflect human viral contamination. Coliphage was suggested as a better indicator of human viral pollution and was proposed by the U.S. EPA as an alternative indicator for fecal pollution in groundwater. In this study, we investigated the occurrence and distribution of FIB, F+ coliphage, and PCR-detectable human adenovirus and enterovirus for an entire year at 15 locations around the Newport Bay watershed, an important southern California estuary for water recreation and an ecological reserve. Peak concentrations and prevalences of FIB and F+ coliphage were associated with winter storms (wet weather). Human adenoviruses and enteroviruses, however, were detected by PCR in 5% of samples collected in the summer (dry weather) but only once in wet weather. These results demonstrated that FIB and coliphage have similar seasonal and freshwater-to-saltwater distribution patterns, while the detection of human viruses depends on a distribution pattern that is the opposite of that of FIB and coliphage. This research suggested that coliphage and FIB share similar environmental sources, while sources of human viruses in Newport Bay are perhaps different.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1367 SE II, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697. Phone: (949) 824-5527. Fax: (949) 824-2056. E-mail: sjiang{at}uci.edu

Published ahead of print on 24 August 2007.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2007, p. 6468-6474, Vol. 73, No. 20
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01370-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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