EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE SURVIVAL OF HEPATITIS-A VIRUS AND ITS CAPSIDAL ANTIGEN IN SYNTHETIC SEAWATER

The aim of this work is to study the variation of the infectious titer and the hepatitis A virus (HAV) antigen titer at 4, 19, and 25 degree s C following artificial contamination in sterile seawater. The result s show that the survival of infectious HAV depends greatly on the temp erature parameter. The T-90 are 11 days at 25 degrees C and 24 days at 19 degrees C, and the infectious titer remains stable at 4 degrees C throughout the 92 day duration of the experiment. The capsidal antigen is found to survive much longer in seawater than the infectious virus . Indeed the T-90 was estimated to be 19 times greater at 19 degrees C and 7 times greater at 25 degrees C for the capsidal antigen. The cap sidal antigen constitutes a marker that allows detection of the presen ce of HAV in seawater, although it has very low sensitivity and does n ot provide any information on the infectious characteristics of the vi rus. Indeed at 19 and 25 degrees C the antigen survives much longer th an the infectious virus. (C) 1998 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.