Detection and distribution of rotavirus in municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs) and surface water in Beijing

The aim of this study was to survey on the presence and distribution of rotavirus in sewage treatment plants (STPs) and surface water samples in Beijing. Also, the rotavirus removal efficacies of wastewater treatment processes in three STPs were discussed. SiO2 was used to concentrate rotavirus particles from environmental water samples. A reverse transcriptase-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-nested PCR) method was used for detection of rotavirus. Rotavirus could be detected from almost all samples collected from STP waters (10/10 influents, 100%; 10/10 secondary effluents, 100%; 9/10 reclaimed effluents, 90%) and river waters (14/14 samples, 100%), and from some lake waters (37/45 samples, 82.2%), canal waters (7/22 samples, 31.8%), as well as wetland waters near drinking water resource (5/26 samples, 19.2%).Our results showed that rotaviruses were widely distributed in different types of waters in Beijing during sampling period. Sewage treatment processes in STPs were not efficient to eliminate rotavirus, which may lead to its spread to surface waters from August to January. This study highlights the interest to detect rotaviruses from water samples in big cities, where many gastroenteritis outbreaks occur each year in China and the results necessitate the further study on monitoring rotavirus in source drinking water.