Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites. Microsporidian spores infect a wide variety of hosts, including humans. The spores may be found in infected hosts' urine and feces, thus waterborne transmission is possible. This study details method development for the detection of microsporidia in tap water. In this study, filtration, centrifugation, purification, and detection parameters were optimized for the detection of microsporidia. The Pall–Gelman Envirocheck sampling capsule (Pall Gelman, Ann Arbor, MI) was chosen as the filter element. Optimal centrifugal force for spore recovery was 1500 × g. Additionally, it was determined that eluting microsporidia spores in a detergent elution buffer solution had a detrimental effect on spore recovery. A direct examination of the concentrate resulted in a greater recovery with less variability than subjecting the sample concentrate to a Percoll–sucrose density gradient purification step. The staining method employed for the detection spores was Calcofluor white (Sigma, St. Louis, MO). Percent recoveries for 10 L tap water samples (n = 5) using the Envirocheck sampling capsule without a density gradient purification step were 26.1 ± 13.4 compared to 25 ± 13.8 for samples subjected to a density gradient purification step.
Development of a Method for the Concentration and Recovery of Microsporidia from Tap Water
Log in via your institution
Log in to Taylor & Francis Online
Restore content access
Restore content access for purchases made as guestPDF download + Online access
- 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
- Article PDF can be downloaded
- Article PDF can be printed
Issue Purchase
- 30 days online access to complete issue
- Article PDFs can be downloaded
- Article PDFs can be printed
Related Research
People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.
Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.
Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.