Hepatitis a Virus Levels in Shellfish Exposed in a Natural Marine Environment to the Effluent from a Treated Sewage Outfall

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) contamination studies and cell-culturable virus determination were undertaken on oysters (Crassostrea angulata) and mussels (Mytilus edulis) kept for six months in the sea near the outfall of a sewage treatment plant. Shellfish and seawater samples were collected on 11 occasions at roughly 15-day intervals during this period. A radioimmunoassay revealed HAV contamination indices (P/N ≥ 2.1) in 3 oyster and 6 mussel samples and 1 sea-water sample. When a radiocompetition test was run on these samples, however, specificity was noted in one mussel sample only (P/N = 2.4). Immune electron microscopy showed that HAV particles were present in three effluent samples. Although a frequent demonstration at sometimes high concentrations (326.0 MPNCU/100 ml) in the effluent was observed, no cell-culturable virus were detected in both the shellfish and the seawater. Adenovirus alone were detected in one mussel sample, but not in the effluent. Complementary studies are now being conducted on all samples with an RIA HAV contamination index of P/N ≥ 2.1. The results of this investigation of viral contamination in a natural marine environment and our HAV detection assays underscore the difficulty of determining the true extent of these phenomena.