Efficacy of Inactivation of Human Enteroviruses by Dual-Wavelength Germicidal Ultraviolet (UV-C) Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

The efficacy of germicidal ultraviolet (UV-C) light emitting diodes (LEDs) was evaluated for inactivating human enteroviruses included on the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)&rsquo;s Contaminant Candidate List (CCL). A UV-C LED device, emitting at peaks of 260 nm and 280 nm and the combination of 260/280 nm together, was used to measure and compare potential synergistic effects of dual wavelengths for disinfecting viral organisms. The 260 nm LED proved to be the most effective at inactivating the CCL enteroviruses tested. To obtain 2-log10 inactivation credit for the 260 nm LED, the fluences (UV doses) required are approximately 8 mJ/cm2 for coxsackievirus A10 and poliovirus 1, 10 mJ/cm2 for enterovirus 70, and 13 mJ/cm2 for echovirus 30. No synergistic effect was detected when evaluating the log inactivation of enteroviruses irradiated by the dual-wavelength UV-C LEDs.</p

Occurrence of Antibiotic-Resistant Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Clonal Group A in Wastewater Effluents▿

Isolates of Escherichia coli belonging to clonal group A (CGA), a recently described disseminated cause of drug-resistant urinary tract infections in humans, were present in four of seven sewage effluents collected from geographically dispersed areas of the United States. All 15 CGA isolates (1% of the 1,484 isolates analyzed) exhibited resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ), accounting for 19.5% of the 77 TMP-SMZ-resistant isolates. Antimicrobial resistance patterns, virulence traits, O:H serotypes, and phylogenetic groupings were compared for CGA and selected non-CGA isolates. The CGA isolates exhibited a wider diversity of resistance profiles and somatic antigens than that found in most previous characterizations of this clonal group. This is the first report of recovery from outside a human host of E. coli CGA isolates with virulence factor and antibiotic resistance profiles typical of CGA isolates from a human source. The occurrence of “human-type” CGA in wastewater effluents demonstrates a potential mode for the dissemination of this clonal group in the environment, with possible secondary transmission to new human or animal hosts

Author response: HspB8 prevents aberrant phase transitions of FUS by chaperoning its folded RNA-binding domain

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