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Review
. 2025 May;27(5):e70109.
doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.70109.

Enteroviruses in Water: Epidemiology, Detection and Inactivation

Corentin Morvan  1 , Magloire P Nekoua  1 , Chaldam J Mbani  1 , Cyril Debuysschere  1 , Enagnon K Alidjinou  1 , Didier Hober  1
Affiliations
Review

Enteroviruses in Water: Epidemiology, Detection and Inactivation

Corentin Morvan et al. Environ Microbiol. 2025 May.

Abstract

Enteroviruses are small non-enveloped RNA viruses commonly found in environmental water samples. Worldwide analysis of water provides evidence of the broad distribution of enteroviruses. In addition to their medical importance, they are used as markers of faecal contamination of water. This review focuses on water-borne human enteroviruses and their transmission. Methods for detecting enteroviruses in water are also presented as well as current strategies to control these enteric viruses in water.

Keywords: enteroviruses; virus detection; virus inactivation; viruses and their biology; water treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Schematic representation of enteroviruses structure and genome. (A) The icosahedral capsid consists of an arrangement of 60 monomers or protomers each composed of four structural proteins, VP1 in blue, VP2 in green, VP3 in yellow and VP4, which is located on the internal side of the capsid (PDB ID: 6ZMS). (B) The positive‐sense single‐stranded RNA genome (~7.4 kb) contains two open reading frames (ORF and ORF2) flanked by a 5′‐untranslated region (UTR) covalently linked to the viral protein VPg (3B) and by a 3'UTR terminated with a poly‐A tail, mimicking cellular mRNA. The IRES structure upstream of the two ORFs recruits the ribosome that transcribes the ORFs. ORF2 encodes an ORF2p protein, which is involved in intestinal infection. The large ORF encodes a polyprotein, which is cleaved by the proteases 2Apro and 3Cpro into eleven proteins.
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