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Title Coliphage test: a quick and easy method to detect faecal pollution in water and fish
 
Names Rao, B.M.
Surendran, P.K.
Date Issued 2003 (iso8601)
Abstract Coliphages are viruses that infect Escherichia coli. Coliphages have been frequently proposed as rapid and inexpensive indicators of faecal pollution. This study describes a simple method termed as coliphage test for the detection of coliphage in water and fish. Coliphage test involves the assay of coliphages by the single agar layer method using nutrient agar medium. The number of plaque forming units was higher on nutrient agar (445 pfu. 100ml^-1) than on other bacteriological media. The result of coliphage test was obtained within 6 hours. Faecal coliforms and Escherichia coli survive freezing temperatures only upto 6 weeks of storage whereas coliphages resisted freezing temperature and survived even after 10 weeks of storage (maximum period tested). Frozen fish and shrimp from processing plants had low levels of coliphages (0-12 pfu.g^-1), faecal coliforms (0-2.5 .g^-1) and E. coli (0-0.9 .g^-1) whereas market samples had high levels of faecal coliforms (140+ .g^-1), E. coli (140+ .g^-1) and coliphages (96-158 pfu.g^-1). In the processing plant samples, 7% were positive for E. coli and 27% positive for faecal coliforms whereas 47% of the samples were positive for coliphages. The result suggested that coliphages were better indicators of faecal pollution in frozen samples than faecal coliforms and E. coli as they survive for a longer period at -20degreeC. The advantages of the coliphage test were that the test was easy to perform, result was faster (4-6 hours) and the test was less expensive.
Genre Article
Topic Coliphage test
Identifier Proceedings of the Symposium on Seafood Safety - Status and Strategies, 28-30 May 2002, Cochin, India ed. by Surendran, P.K. et. al, 556-561