VALIDATION OF AN ULTRAFILTRATION PROCESS TO CONCENTRATE VIRUSES FROM LARGE VOLUMES OF WATER

The efficiency of seeded poliovirus and echovirus recovery from 20 litres of tap water was evaluated using a molecular ultrafiltration system. The experiments were performed using a 5mum polypropylene prefilter and two polysulfonate membranes of 10(5) nominal molecular weight limit. No loss of virus was observed after prefiltration. More than 96% of poliovirus were recovered after elution at pH 10.5 and 83% of echovirus after elution at pH 8.5.