Studies to distinguish between human and animal faecal pollution using F-RNA coliphages and faecal sterols

Abstract

Human enteric viral infections are considered to be predominantly associated with human wastes, as opposed to animal wastes, and a distinction between these has benefits for water quality control and risk assessment. A variety of techniques have been described to distinguish between human and animal faecal pollution of water. F-RNA (male-specific) coliphages have been classified into four sero-groups and evidence has been presented that two of these sero-groups are specific for human excreta and the other two for animal excreta. Certain chemical compounds such as the faecal sterols cholesterol and coprostanol yielded valuable results in attempts to distinguish between faecal pollution of human and animal origin. In this study the application of F-RNA coliphages and faecal sterols to distinction between human and animal excreta has been investigated. Faecal sterols were extracted from water and analysed by gas chromatography using published methods that were adapted for the detection and quantification of cholesterol and coprostanol.

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