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Study finds that prions are not degraded by conventional sewage treatment processes

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 23, 2008 at 8:10 pm

Thanks to Ray Walker, frequent commentor on Aquafornia, for sending me the link to this article. Ray has pointed out frequently that prions may likely be present after wastewater treatment, which poses a serious question to recycled water that ends up in a municipal drinking water supply. From Science Daily:

Scientists in Wisconsin are reporting that typical wastewater treatment processes do not degrade prions.

Prions, rogue proteins that cause incurable brain infections such as Mad Cow disease and its human equivalent, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, are difficult to inactivate, resisting extreme heat, chemical disinfectants, and irradiation. Until now, scientists did not know whether prions entering sewers and septic tanks from slaughterhouses, meatpacking facilities, or private game dressing, could survive and pass through conventional sewage treatment plants.

Joel Pedersen and colleagues used laboratory experiments with simulated wastewater treatment to show that prions can be recovered from wastewater sludge after 20 days, remaining in the “biosolids,” a byproduct of sewage treatment sometimes used to fertilize farm fields.

Read the full text of this story from Science Daily by clicking here.

Thanks to Aquafornia reader Greg for putting the link to the study in the comments section of this post!

June 23, 2008 · Filed Under Recycled Water

Comments

One Response to “Study finds that prions are not degraded by conventional sewage treatment processes”

Greg Touchton on June 23rd, 2008 9:52 pm

At least it doesn’t suggest that they prefer movement into the water. Not that we wouldn’t treat any recycled water with significant chemicals, but considering the ability of prions to survive, things can get scary.

Also note that the based on resulting concentrations is far from alarmist.

Study available from this link below
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/esthag/asap/abs/es703186e.html

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