Detection of enteroviruses and adenoviruses in coastal waters of SW Greece by nested polymerase chain reaction

One hundred and twenty coastal water samples, from twelve different bathing sites along the Achaia coastline (SW Greece) were analyzed for enteroviruses and adenoviruses using nested polymerase chain reaction, during a five month period (June–October), in 1995 and 1996. When nested PCR was used for detection of enteroviruses, 21 (17.5%) were found positive. On the other hand, using cell culture, only 11 (9.2%) were positive for enteroviruses with a mean number of 2.9 PFU/10 l. In addition, 34 (28.3%) samples were positive by nested PCR detection for adenoviruses. In half of the sites, both enteroviruses and adenoviruses were not detected, while in the remaining half of the sites the above mentioned viruses were periodically detected. Moreover, thirty samples from non-bathing areas were also analyzed as reference samples. The comparison between the presence of faecal bacterial indicators and the presence of enteroviruses and adenoviruses did not show any significant correlation (P>0.05). The PCR methodology was found highly successful in detecting both viruses in coastal waters of our region. The implementation of this molecular technique in laboratories monitoring environmental samples, despite the existence of some difficulties is expected to resolve some problems of detection of pathogen environmental microorganisms.