AN EVALUATION OF THE GELMAN ENVIROCHEK(R) CAPSULE FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS CONCENTRATION OF CRYPTOSPORIDIUM AND GIARDIA FROM WATER

The Gelman Envirochek capsule is a membrane device for the simultaneou s concentration of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts from wate r. Samples are filtered through a Supor(R) polyethersulphone membrane with a 1 mu m absolute pore size. (Oo)cysts are mechanically eluted fr om the membrane fibre using a wrist action shaker and a nonionic deter gent and concentrated by centrifugation. The concentrate can be furthe r processed using any separation technique to separate the target orga nisms from other debris. This method enables multiple samples to be pr ocessed within 1 h. Recoveries from seeded tap and source water sample s were in excess of 70% for Cryptosporidium and 80% for Giardia.