カキの糞便汚染指標ウイルスとしてのPepper mild mottle virusの評価

抄録

Since oysters bioaccumulate microbes in environmental water, there is a contamination risk of human fecal viral pathogens such as noroviruses (NoV). Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), an abundant plant virus in human feces and environmental waters, recently has been recognized as a candidate of fecal indicator virus in environmental water. In this study, the prevalence of PMMoV and NoV among oysters (138 batches) collected from 13 harvesting areas was investigated using RT-PCR between July 2016 and March 2017 in Japan. PMMoV and NoV were detected in 116 (84.1%) and 67 (48.6%) batches, respectively, and they were simultaneously detected in 52 batches (37.7%). PMMoV was detected through the investigation period but NoV was detected only in the winter season. PMMoV was detected in oysters collected from 12 harvesting areas. Our results clearly show that in Japan PMMoV is high prevalent in oysters, and suggest that further quantitative analysis on PMMoV and fecal viral pathogens in oysters will be needed in order to use PMMoV as a human fecal viral contamination indicator in oysters and their harvesting areas.