Isolation of enteric viruses from sewage of a sewage treatment plant.

Isolation of enteric viruses from sewage of a sewage treatment plant in Nara Prefecture was carried out during one-year from June 1984 to May 1985 . Both supernatant and sediment of the sewage samples were subjected to virus isolation. Viruses were isolated almost similarly from the supernatants and the sediments. Poliovirus, echovirus, coxsackievirus , adenovirus and reovirus were found in the sewage. Polioviruses were isolated during the periods which coincided with those of vaccine administration , and the group B coxsackieviruses were frequently isolated all year round . Among the group B coxsackieviruses isolated type B2, B4 and B5 viruses were isolated successively for a long period , suggesting that these type viruses caused epidemics. The incidences of antibodies against the group B coxsackieviruses in the sera collected in this study area supported that these types of viruses caused epidemics . Futhermore, we observed that the epidemic of type B4 which virus occurred in 1984 though this type was isolated successively for a long