Detection and Quantification of Bacteriophages in Wastewater Samples by Culture and Molecular Methods

Bacteriophages are promising tools for the detection of fecal pollution in water bodies and particularly for viral pathogen risk assessment. Having similar morphological and biological characteristics, bacteriophages are perfect surrogates for the study of the fate and transport of enteric viruses, generally better than any other group of indicators. Different groups of bacteriophages, such as somatic coliphages, F-specific RNA bacteriophages, and bacteriophages infecting selected strains of Bacteroides, have been comprehensively tested as indicators of fecal pollution. Somatic coliphages and F-specific RNA bacteriophages can be used as indicators of general fecal contamination, whereas Bacteroides phages can be used to detect a particular fecal source, for instance, human, bovine, porcine, or poultry fecal contamination. Feasible and cost-effective protocols standardized by the International Standardization Organization and the United States Environmental Protection Agency for the detection of infectious bacteriophages belonging to these three groups are available. Molecular methods for the detection of some particular phages have also been developed. Here we introduce those methods for the detection, enumeration, and isolation of bacteriophages in wastewater samples.