Water supply and sewage disposal for country homes

"June 1920.""The sanitary surroundings of farmers' homes are showing many improvements which are the natural outgrowth of modern ideas of comfort, refinement, and convenience. The pleasures of country life are so often marred by the absence of comforts which in the city are accepted as a matter of course that there is growing conviction that the farm should be provided with at least some of the "modern conveniences." An abundant supply of pure water is a necessary prerequisite to most of these conveniences. The health of the household is largely dependent upon the quality of the water and its reaction upon the wholesomeness of the milk, butter, cream, and other products used on and sold from the farm. A proper water supply is not necessarily expensive if its installation be kept within the bounds of utility. The chief source of expense aside from the piping for water is the plumbing fixtures and these may be of a very luxurious type and correspondingly expensive. The methods of supply herein described have all been successfully used, and the costs as given are close approximations. There may be a wide variation from these costs due to the different character of fixtures that may be used."--Page 5

Real-Time Reverse Transcription–Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay for SARS-associated Coronavirus

A real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was developed to rapidly detect the severe acute respiratory syndrome–associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). The assay, based on multiple primer and probe sets located in different regions of the SARS-CoV genome, could discriminate SARS-CoV from other human and animal coronaviruses with a potential detection limit of <10 genomic copies per reaction. The real-time RT-PCR assay was more sensitive than a conventional RT-PCR assay or culture isolation and proved suitable to detect SARS-CoV in clinical specimens. Application of this assay will aid in diagnosing SARS-CoV infection

Zoonotic hepatitis E: animal reservoirs and emerging risks

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is responsible for enterically-transmitted acute hepatitis in humans with two distinct epidemiological patterns. In endemic regions, large waterborne epidemics with thousands of people affected have been observed, and, in contrast, in non-endemic regions, sporadic cases have been described. Although contaminated water has been well documented as the source of infection in endemic regions, the modes of transmission in non-endemic regions are much less known. HEV is a single-strand, positive-sense RNA virus which is classified in the Hepeviridae family with at least four known main genotypes (1–4) of mammalian HEV and one avian HEV. HEV is unique among the known hepatitis viruses, in which it has an animal reservoir. In contrast to humans, swine and other mammalian animal species infected by HEV generally remain asymptomatic, whereas chickens infected by avian HEV may develop a disease known as Hepatitis-Splenomegaly syndrome. HEV genotypes 1 and 2 are found exclusively in humans while genotypes 3 and 4 are found both in humans and other mammals. Several lines of evidence indicate that, in some cases involving HEV genotypes 3 and 4, animal to human transmissions occur. Furthermore, individuals with direct contact with animals are at higher risk of HEV infection. Cross-species infections with HEV genotypes 3 and 4 have been demonstrated experimentally. However, not all sources of human infections have been identified thus far and in many cases, the origin of HEV infection in humans remains unknown

Hepatitis E virus RNA detection in serum and feces specimens with the use of microspin columns

This report describes the use of microspin columns for extraction of hepatitis E virus (HEV) RNA from stool and serum specimens for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and compares this method with the glass powder method. The microspin column method was found to be 1- to 2-log more sensitive in detecting HEV RNA than the glass powder method and had better reproducibility. The microspin column method also detected HEV RNA in a larger number of specimens than the glass powder method from among a panel of serum and stool specimens. Use of this method may allow better assessment of viremia and fecal excretion in patients and experimental animals infected with HEV