Efficiency of beef extract for the recovery of poliovirus from wastewater effluents

Our plain-English summary of Efficiency of beef extract for the recovery of poliovirus from wastewater effluents, by E.F. Landry, J.M. Vaughn, M.Z. Thomas, et al (Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 1978).

The study

• Authors: E.F. Landry, J.M. Vaughn, M.Z. Thomas, T.J. Vicale
• Journal: Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Published: 1978;36(4):544-8
• Cited by: 24 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

The efficiency of poliovirus elution from fiber glass cartridge filters (K27), epoxy-fiber glass-asbestos filters (M780), and pleated cartridge filters was assessed by using 3% beef extract (pH 9.0) or 0.1 M glycine (pH 11.5). Poliovirus type I, strain LSc, was seeded into 20- to 25-gallon (ca. 75.6- to 95.6-liter) samples of treated sewage effluent and concentrated by using a filter adsorption-elution technique. Virus elution was accomplished by using either two 600-ml portions of 3% beef extract (pH 9.0), or two 1-liter portions of 0.1 M glycine (pH 11.5). In all experiments, beef extract elution followed by organic flocculation was found to be superior, yielding a mean recovery efficiency of 85%, with recoveries ranging from 68 to 100%. Elution with 0.1 M glycine (pH 11.5) followed by inorganic flocculation resulted in a mean recovery efficiency of 36%. The variable range of recoveries with beef extract could not be significantly improved by varying the type of beef extract or by extending the elution time to 30 min. Second-step reconcentration of 1-liter seeded sewage effluent and renovated wastewater samples indicated that organic flocculation was a more efficient method for virus recovery than inorganic flocculation. Beef extract concentrations of less than 3% were found to be efficient in the recovery of poliovirus from renovated wastewater.

In plain English

This laboratory study tested ways of recovering poliovirus from treated wastewater. It did not study asbestos exposure or any health effects. Asbestos appears only as part of one filter tested, an epoxy-fiber glass-asbestos filter (M780). The authors added known amounts of poliovirus type 1 to 20- to 25-gallon samples of tertiary-treated sewage from the 12-Pines Sewage Treatment Plant in Medford, New York. They trapped the virus on filters and washed it off with either 3% beef extract (pH 9.0) or 0.10 M glycine (pH 11.5). In seven trials, beef extract recovered a mean of 85% of the added virus (range 68 to 100%). Glycine recovered a mean of 36%. With pleated cartridge filters, beef extract recovered an average of 65%. In a second concentration step, the beef extract method recovered 85%, against 64% for the inorganic method. Lower beef extract concentrations also worked in preliminary tests. The authors concluded that their results appear to support earlier findings favoring beef extract and to extend them to these filters. They noted it is unknown whether the results would hold for lower-quality effluents.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory methods experiment (virus-seeding experiments comparing filter elution and reconcentration methods); not a study of human or animal health
• Who was studied: No people or animals were studied. Samples of tertiary-treated sewage (20 to 25 gallons) from the 12-Pines Sewage Treatment Plant, Medford, N.Y., and renovated wastewater from observation wells were seeded with poliovirus type 1 (LSc) at Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Exposure: No asbestos exposure was studied. Asbestos was a component of one of the virus-concentrating filters used (epoxy-fiber glass-asbestos filter, M780), alongside fiber glass cartridge filters (K27) and pleated cartridge filters. The comparison was between 3% beef extract (pH 9.0) and 0.10 M glycine (pH 11.5) as eluants
• Main results:
  • In two duplicate experiments, beef extract elution recovered more than 100% and 96% of the seeded poliovirus; glycine elution recovered 31% and 41%
  • Across seven beef extract trials, the mean recovery was 85%, ranging from 68 to 100%
  • Glycine elution followed by inorganic flocculation gave a mean recovery of 36%
  • Immediate beef extract elution recovered 87% of the virus; leaving the beef extract in contact with the filters for 30 minutes recovered 80.5%
  • With a fiber glass K27 plus pleated filter series, beef extract recovered an average of 65% of the input virus (two experiments)
  • In second-step reconcentration of 1-liter seeded sewage effluent, organic (beef extract) flocculation recovered 85% of input virus and inorganic flocculation recovered an average of 64%
  • In small-volume seeded well water reconcentration, 1% beef extract recovered 81% of input virus and 2% beef extract recovered 100%
  • In preliminary filter elution experiments, 1% beef extract recovered 75% of input virus and 3% beef extract recovered 68%
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that their results appear to support earlier findings that beef extract is a more efficient eluant than glycine, and to extend its use to fiber glass cartridge (K27), epoxy-fiber glass-asbestos (Cox-M780) and pleated cartridge filters
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The tests used low-turbidity sewage; the authors state it is not known whether similar findings would be obtained with lower-quality effluents
  • Recoveries with beef extract varied from 68 to 100%, which the authors suggest could have been due to differences in sample water quality
  • The pleated filter results came from a limited number of trials
  • The authors state it is not known whether the lower glycine recoveries were caused by virus inactivation from the high pH

Related studies

• Comparative study of four microporous filters for concentrating viruses from drinking water — W. Jakubowski, W.F. Hill, et al. (1975)
• Modified membrane-filter procedure for concentration of enteroviruses from tap water — P.A. Shields, S.A. Berenfeld, et al. (1985)
• Detection of virus in water: sensitivity of the tentative standard method for drinking water — W.F. Hill, W. Jakubowski, et al. (1976)
• Three potential sources of microfungi in a treated municipal water supply system in sub-tropical Australia — N.B. Sammon, K.M. Harrower, et al. (2011)
• Artificial geochemical barriers for additional recovery of non-ferrous metals and reduction of ecological hazard from the mining industry waste — V. Chanturiya, V. Masloboev, et al. (2011)
• Toxicity of cell culture medium due to filtration through asbestos pads — W. House (1964)

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