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Erin Symonds (Graduated Lab Member) Email: esymonds@marine.usf.edu Phone: (727) 553-3930; FAX: (727) 553-1189
Project: Diversity and Distribution of Pathogenic Viruses in the Florida Keys The majority of treated wastewater, as well as untreated sewage, drains into the marine environment. Millions of pathogens (i.e. viruses, protists, and bacteria) are excreted in human fecal matter and current methods of sewage treatment do not always effectively remove these organisms. While point sources of fecal pollution (i.e. treated wastewater discharge, combined sewer overflows, municipal storm sewer systems, etc) can have significant impacts to the health of coastal environments, non-point sources of fecal pollution account for ~ half of the beach closures in the U.S. and can pose an even bigger threat due to difficulties in identifying and mitigating the source of pollution. Run-off, farm animals, wildlife, septic systems, swimmers, and faulty sanitary sewer lines are all examples of non-point sources of fecal contamination. Currently, the US EPA mandates the use of bacterial indicators, such as fecal coliforms and enterococci, to assess water quality. Although monitoring of these bacteria is simple and inexpensive, it has been shown that fecal-associated bacteria are not ideal indicators because they can survive in the environment without active fecal contamination and are more susceptible to decay than other types of pathogens. Since concentrations of fecal coliforms and enterococci inadequately detect fecal pollution and therefore inaccurately depict the risks to human health, many have proposed the use of an alternative viral indicator of wastewater contamination. While it is impractical to monitor the presence of all viral pathogens related to wastewater pollution, the development of an accurate viral indicator of sewage contamination is needed for enhanced water quality monitoring. To develop a comprehensive water quality indicator protocol, it is first necessary to establish a broad, baseline understanding of the many pathogenic, eukaryotic viruses in raw sewage and to assess the natural presence of these viruses in the coastal marine environment. PCR was used to detect 10 major viral groups (adenoviruses, herpesviruses, hepatitis B viruses, morbilliviruses, noroviruses, papillomaviruses, pepper mild mottle viruses, picobirnaviruses, reoviruses, and rotaviruses) in raw sewage collected from throughout the United States and from five marine environments ranging in their proximity to dense human populations. This baseline understanding of viruses in raw sewage and the marine environment will enable educated decisions to be made regarding the use of viruses in water quality assessments and identify viruses that can potentially be used to indicate wastewater pollution in coastal environments. Funding for this research is provided by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Publications Symonds, EM, DW Griffin, M Breitbart (in review).Viruses in raw sewage and their potential to indicate fecal pollution in coastal environments. Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Sullivan, M.J., Fry, B., Symonds, E., Bucolo, P. & Sanderson, A. Similarity in
food web dynamics of two systems dominated by different seagrass species
assessed by 15N tracer methodology. In preparation for Marine
Ecology Progress Series.
Presentations
Symonds EM, K. Rosario, M. Breitbart. “Viruses found in sewage and their
potential to indicate fecal pollution in coastal waters”. Poster presentation by
E. Symonds. American Society for Microbiology 108th General Meeting; Boston, MA.
6/08.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Scientific Computing: SAS, Lasergene, IsoSource, MS Office
SCUBA Certifications & Experience: AAUS Scientific Diver in-training, USF; PADI Divemaster with NITROX certification; CPR and First Aid, American Red Cross; Oxygen Administration, Divers Alert Network; 105 total dives (1 logged science dive)
Boating: Trained to maneuver boats and in boating safety by Boat U.S. Foundation
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