Quantification of nucleic acids of enteric viruses in concentrated environmental samples

This method describes a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and two triplex quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) protocols for the quantitative detection of enteric viruses, namely norovirus GI and GII, sapovirus GI, hepatitis A and E viruses and human adenoviruses. The method is suitable for the detection of viruses in nucleic acid extracts of environmental samples. The assay also targets mengovirus that can be used as a quality control during sample processing prior to q(RT-)PCR. The method is suitable for screening nucleic acid extracts derived from difficult matrices (e.g. wastewater, river water, sediment, shellfish, faecal matter).This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) under the Environmental Microbiology and Human Health (EMHH) Programme (NE/M010996/1)