Detection of Enteroviruses: An Assessment of Ten Cell Lines

The routine monitoring of waters and wastewaters using the BGM - suspended cell plaque assay system has resulted in high isolation rates for polio and coxsackie B viruses with echoviruses only rarely being detected. Ten cell lines (five of human origin, five of simian derivation) were examined for their susceptibility to twenty six enteroviruses and their ability to isolate naturally occurring enteroviruses in wastewater effluent determined. All the viruses produced cytopathic effect in the simian cell lines but only in the FL amnion line of human cells. The detection of naturally occurring enteroviruses was most efficient when BGM cells were used with 82% of samples being positive. RD cells gave 73% positive whilst chimpanzee liver gave 64%. However, the number of plaques formed in the presence of each cell line showed that BGM detected 50% of all plaques observed with RD and chimpanzee liver detecting 21% and 9% respectively. The serotypes detected in this study were of the polio and coxsackie B groups, no echoviruses being identified.