Although the effects of heavy metals on the behavior, including infectivity, of bacteria have been studied, little information is available about their effects on enteric viruses. We report an investigation of effects on the biosynthesis of human adenoviruses (HAdV) and hepatitis A (HAV) of waters contaminated with mineral waste following an environmental disaster in Mariana City, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The study area was affected on November 5, 2015, by 60 million m³ of mud (containing very high concentrations of iron salts) from a mining reservoir (Fundão), reaching the Gualaxo do Norte River (sites evaluated in this study), the “Rio Doce” River and finally the Atlantic Ocean. We found substantial counts of infectious HAdV and HAV (by qPCR) in all sampled sites from Gualaxo do Norte River, indicating poor basic sanitation in this area. The effects of iron on viral infection processes were evaluated using HAdV-2 and HAV-175, as DNA and RNA enteric virus models, respectively, propagated in the laboratory and exposed to this contaminated water. Experiments in field and laboratory scales found that the numbers of plaque forming units (PFU) of HAdV and HAV were significantly higher in contaminated water with high iron concentrations than in waters with low iron concentration (< 20 µg/L of iron). These findings indicate that iron can potentiate enteric virus infectivity, posing a potential risk to human and animal health, particularly during pollution disasters such as that described here in Mariana, Brazil.

中文翻译：

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来自环境灾难的高铁矿物质废物（本托·罗德里格斯，巴西马里亚纳）与较高滴度的肠道病毒有关。

尽管已经研究了重金属对细菌行为（包括传染性）的影响，但关于其对肠病毒的影响的信息很少。我们报告了在巴西米纳斯吉拉斯州马里亚纳市发生环境灾难后，对矿物质污染的水域中人类腺病毒（HAdV）和甲型肝炎（HAV）的生物合成影响的调查。研究区域于2015年11月5日受到6000万m ^3的影响矿山（Fundão）中的大量泥浆（含有很高浓度的铁盐），到达北瓜拉索河（在本研究中评估的地点），“里约多西河”河，最后到达大西洋。我们从北瓜拉索河的所有采样点中发现了大量感染性HAdV和HAV（通过qPCR），表明该地区的基本卫生状况较差。使用HAdV-2和HAV-175评估铁对病毒感染过程的影响，因为DNA和RNA肠道病毒模型分别在实验室中传播并暴露于这种污染的水中。现场和实验室规模的实验发现，高铁浓度的污水中HAdV和HAV的噬菌斑形成单位（PFU）数量要明显高于低铁浓度（<20 µg / L的铁）。