Concentration of Viruses from Seawater
113
Table 1. Virus Removal from Artificial Seawater by Natural and
Synthetic Textile Filters
Textile filters
(1-3 μ porosity)
Cotton
Orion
Polypropylene
Polyester
Cellulose acetate
Viscose
Fiberglass
Dynel
Percent virus detected in filtrates
Exp. 1
21
80
92
73
2
70
4
10
Exp. 2
26
89
80
88
0
75
2
—
Exp. 3
_
90
78
90
1
—
6
—
Since some of the filters contain detergents impregnated into the fibers, all filters were
washed with 20 gallons of tap water prior to use. Poliovirus was added to seawater to give
1000 PFU/0.1 ml and 5 gallon samples passed through the filters at approximately 50 psi
(300 GPH). Filtrates were collected and assayed after dilution to render the inoculum
isotonic.
Table 2. Concentration of Virus from Artificial Seawater
Procedures
Seawater with virus
1 μ orlon filtrate
1 μ fiberglass filtrate
1 μ cellulose acetate filtrate
Eluate
Percent virus recovered
Exp. 1
1,900,000
1,850,000
-
40,000
1,800,000
95.0
PFU/total volume
Exp. 2
140,950,000
140,950,000
-
17,200,000
120,350,000
85.3
Exp. 3
2,000,000
2,000,000
55,000
—
1,950,000
97.5
Orion filters were washed with 20 gallons of tap water to remove residual detergent
which would affect virus adsorption to cellulose acetate or fiberglass filters. Virus elution
was carried out with 1 liter phosphate buffered saline, pH 11.5. The eluate was collected
in 600 ml phosphate buffered saline, pH 2.0.