Water Science & Technology Vol 24 No 2 pp 423–426 © IWA Publishing 1991

Comparison of Two Methods for the Recovery of Rotavirus from Mussels and Oysters

S. Boher^*, C. Beril^*, D. Terver^** and L. Schwartzbrod^*

Two extraction-concentration methods for recovering rotavirus from mussels and oysters are compared. Molluscs are artificially contaminated by a one hour stay in seawater seeded with rotavirus SA 11. Results show that the first procedure using a glycine-NaCl pH 10 solution and an organic flocculation gives quite similar virus recovery from mussels and oysters, whatever the quantities of rotavirus in seawater are. The second procedure using a borate buffer - 3 % beef extract pH 9 and a double precipitation with Polyethylene glycol 6000 leads in most cases to a more efficient virus recovery, based on immunofluorescent foci counts on cover slip cultures of MA 104.

Keywords: Rotavirus, mussels, oysters, sea water, extraction, concentration.

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