[Microbiological and physicochemical indicators of viral contamination of the drinking water]

Abstract

The paper reviews the connection between the human viruses and some common sanitary indicators of drinking water contamination. An analysis is made of: physico-chemical indicators (water turbidity, residual chlorine, some products of the bacterial metabolism in the intestine), bacterial indicators (total and faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, faecal streptococci, clostridia and other intestinal anaerobic bacteria, saprophytic mycobacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and some bacteriophages. The conclusion is drawn that if such indirect indicators of water faecal pollution are generally useful in sanitary-microbiological assessment of drinking water, for finding its viral pollution, in certain epidemiological and hygiene-sanitary situations the virologic examination of the drinking water is quite compulsory.