Abstract
The molecular detection of Norovirus GI and Norovirus GII in the Tunisian industrial wastewater treatment plant of Charguia I was conducted to test the effectiveness of secondary biological treatment using the activated sludge procedure and the UV-C254 tertiary treatment radiation using a UV disinfection prototype to upgrade the quality of the purified wastewater. A total of 140 sewage samples were collected from the two lines of sewage treatment procedures. Norovirus GI and Norovirus GII have been found and quantified using Real-Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) in 66.4 and 86.4% of the collected wastewater samples. The Norovirus GI and GII mean concentration values got in the treated effluents showed a significant decrease of Norovirus viral content rates detected from upstream to downstream of activated sludge procedures and at the output of UV-C254 treatment. These findings characterise and denote for the first time the effectiveness of biological and UV-C254 treatment for Norovirus GI and Norovirus GII removal in Tunis City, northern Tunisia. Also, these data underlined the fact that purified sewage makes up a route of gastroenteritis virus transmission and a cause of viral gastroenteritis associated with water-borne and food-borne outbreaks.
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Acknowledgements
This study received the support of the CERTE (Techno Park of Borj-Cédria, Tunisia) and the National Reference Centre of Enteric Viruses (Dijon, France).
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Ibrahim, C., Hammami, S., Khelifi, N. et al. The Effectiveness of Activated Sludge Procedure and UV-C254 in Norovirus Inactivation in a Tunisian Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant. Food Environ Virol 12, 250–259 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-020-09434-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-020-09434-0