Escherichia coli B phages as faecal pollution indicators in the marine environment
Abstract
Bacteriophages, survived in seawater even longer than viruses, have been investigated by various authors as adequate indicators of sanitary quality of seawater and the presence of enteric viruses in the sea. Advantage cited for a coliphage indicator include easy and economy of laboratory procedures that yield quantitative measures of bacteriophage.
The declining ratio of faecal coliforms to bacteriophages observed during storage experiment and in samples taken at different distances from the source of pollution supports the use of this ratio as an index of the time since a faecal contamination occured. However, the influence of temperature, suspended material and different survival time of Escherichia coli and bacteriophages in the seawater had to be taken into consideration.
The validity of bacteriophages as indicators of the presence of enteroviruses in seawater is questionable.
