Full Description

With funding from the European Commission, a consortium of members of the European Water Research Institutes has carried out a program of work with the objective of optimizing and standardizing a method for determining the presence of (oo)cysts of Cryptosproidium and Giardia in water. Each of the stages (initial concentration, recovery and identification and enumeration) was investigated and the relative merits of existing and new methods has been assessed. Each method evaluated was challenged against the corresponding part of the protocol promoted by the United Kingdom Standing Committee of Analysts. This standard method was used as control and as a point of reference between the participating laboratories. This research was carried out independently but in agreement by two laboratories in France and in Germany and focused on the initial concentration of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts from surface water by flocculation methods. According to a literature study performed on the analytical methods and on the coagulant used in the water treatment industry three flocculants have been evaluated: calcium carbonate, aluminum sulfate and ferric sulfate. After optimization of the flocculation, elution/dissociation and centrifugation conditions, evaluations of the different flocculants were run in parallel. Results have shown that ferric sulfate and aluminum sulfate gave better recovery rates for both Cryptosporidium and Giardia than calcium carbonate and that the water concentrates issued from these two flocculants were easier to examine. Includes 12 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 01/01/1999File Size: 1 file , 260 KB