Torque teno virus (TTV) and fecal pollution

Abstract

The search for viral agents in environmental water samples started around sixty
years ago. Initially, the research focus was on detection of Enteroviruses. More
recently other viral agents, especially enteric viruses with major impact on public
health, also became targets of research in water samples. These viral agents,
generally associated with gastroenteritis and hepatitis, have as main characteristics
the excretion in high amounts in faeces of infected individuals, high resistance
to destruction in the environment and absence of replication outside the host.
These biological characteristics make them excellent candidates as markers of
environmental contamination due to settling of new areas by human beings, as
well as detect imperfections in the strategies of basic sanitation. More recently,
the Torque Teno virus (TTV) is being considered an interesting candidate as a
biological marker in the study of faecal contamination of the water, for keeping the
characteristics previously mentioned for the enteric viruses and to be widely spread
in the human population.