Bacteriophages as surrogates of viral pathogens in wastewater treatment processes

Abstract

Although wastewater reuse presents numerous benefits, wastewater-borne pathogens, especially human enteric viruses, may pose risks to human health. Wastewater treatment processes have been shown to remove bacterial pathogens more effectively than they do viral pathogens, and in aquatic environments, levels of traditional faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) do not appear to correlate consistently with levels of human viral pathogens. There is, therefore, a need for novel viral indicators of faecal pollution and novel surrogates of viral pathogens. Potential candidates for this role include enteric bacteriophages (phages), viruses capable of infecting enteric bacteria.

Date of Award	Mar 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton