Distribution of indicator bacteria and bacteriophages in shellfish and shellfish-growing waters

Real-time monitoring technologies for indicator bacteria and pathogens in shellfish and shellfish harvesting waters

The counting of bacteria in water has been a critical element in protecting public health in the last century. In the early part of the century scientists were able to grow many species of bacteria and differentiate them from each other using biochemical tests. They also had observed that certain bacteria were always found in the faeces of humans and other warm-blooded animals and that signific...

Viruses and Bacteria in Coastal Waters and Shellfish

The fate of viruses and pathogens discharged into the ocean in municipal effluent is not known for certain. They probably become inactivated in the same manner that coliform bacteria are—through sedimentation, predation by marine bacteria and filter-feeders, damage by ultraviolet light or abrupt changes from reducing to oxidizing environment, or because of some antiviral agent present in the se...

Assessment of Fecal Indicator Bacteria and Potential Pathogen Co-Occurrence at a Shellfish Growing Area

Routine monitoring of shellfish growing waters for bacteria indicative of human sewage pollution reveals little about the bacterial communities that co-occur with these indicators. This study investigated the bacterial community, potential pathogens, and fecal indicator bacteria in 40 water samples from a shellfish growing area in the Chesapeake Bay, USA. Bacterial community composition was qua...

Relevance of F-Specific RNA Bacteriophages in Assessing Human Norovirus Risk in Shellfish and Environmental Waters.

UNLABELLED Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are the main cause of shellfish-borne gastroenteritis outbreaks. In the absence of routine technical approaches allowing infectious particles to be detected, this viral pathogen is currently targeted by genome research, leading to difficult interpretations. In this study, we investigated the potential of F-specific RNA bacteriophages (FRNAPH) as fecal and v...

Safe Management of Shellfish and Harvest Waters