Virus filtration

Aranha-Creado, H. Filtration virus removal in process validation. Genet Eng News 20 64 (2000). 

There are several categories of direct flow filtration however, this chapter covers the three major ones—sterile filtration, virus filtration, and membrane adsorbers—as well as depth filtration. 

Turbidity n/a Tt3 Turbidity, a measure of water cloudiness, is used to indicate water quality and filtration effectiveness (e.g., whether disease-causing organisms are present). Higher turbidity is associated with higher levels of microorganisms such as viruses, parasites and some bacteria. These organisms can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. Soil runoff... 

Ozone has proven to be effeetive against viruses. Franee has adopted a standard for the use of ozone to inaetivate viruses. When an ozone residual of 0.4 mg/I ean be measured 4 minutes after the initial ozone demand has been met, viral inaetivation is satisfied. This property plus ozone s freedom from residual formation are important eonsiderations in the publie health aspects of ozonation. When ozonation is eombined with aetivated earbon filtration, a high degree of organie removal ean be aehieved. Coneerning the toxieity of oxidation produets of ozone and the removal of speeifie eompounds via ozonation, available evidenee does not indieate any major health hazards assoeiated with the use of ozone in wastewater treatment. 

Effluent pretreatment is necessary when RO is used as tertiary treatment in order to prevent membranes filters form being blocked or abraded. UF offers a powerful tool for the reduction of fouling potential of RO/NF membranes [57]. A typical pretreatment consist of a MF allowing the removal of the large suspended solids form the WWTP effluent followed by UF unit which removes thoroughly suspended solids, colloidal material, bacteria, viruses and organic compounds from the filtrated water. The UF product is sent to the RO unit where dissolved salts are removed. 

In terminal areas, the air volumes are much greater, and typical HVAC filtration systems do not remove aerosol particles from the air as efficiently as do aircraft Environmental Control Systems (see Chapter 2). Thus, the costs and benefits of various enhanced filtration and air-cleaning strategies would have to be carefully assessed. An ancillary benefit to be considered would be the reduction of the transmission of common ills such as cold and flu viruses (or more serious viruses, such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS] virus) among airport patrons. 

In this treatment process, unit operations such as chemical coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation followed by filtration, activated carbon, ion exchange, and reverse osmosis are employed to remove significant amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals, organic matters, bacteria, and viruses present in wastewater.2 It is always the last process step in the wastewater treatment plant that finally renders the treated wastewater reusable and disposable into the environment without any adverse effect (Figure 22.1). 

Removal of viruses from the product stream can be achieved in a number of ways. The physicochemical properties of viral particles differ greatly from most proteins, ensuring that effective fractionation is automatically achieved by most chromatographic techniques. Gel-filtration chromatography, for example, effectively separates viral particles from most proteins on the basis of differences in size. 

HSA is used therapeutically as an aqueous solution it is available in concentrated form (15-25 per cent protein) or as an isotonic solution (4-5 per cent protein). In both cases, in excess of 95 per cent of the protein present is albumin. It can be prepared by fractionation from normal plasma or serum, or purified from placentas. The source material must first be screened for the presence of indicator pathogens. After purification, a suitable stabilizer (often sodium caprylate) is added, but no preservative. The solution is then sterilized by filtration and aseptically filled into final sterile containers. The relative heat stability of HSA allows a measure of subsequent heat treatment, which further reduces the risk of accidental transmission of viable pathogens (particularly viruses). This treatment normally entails heating the product to 60 °C for 10 h. It is then normally incubated at 30-32 °C for a further 14 days and subsequently examined for any signs of microbial growth. 

The Producing System. The questions of particular concern here are the nature of the system used to manufacture the desired substance, and the precision with which it is controlled. If the system consists of prokaryotic cells, then how well-defined is their provenance and how is their consistency demonstrated If mammalian cells are employed, their lineage must be considered. In both instances, it is important to ensure that extraneous virus, infections, DNA and less well-defined factors such as slow viruses are excluded by the origins and history of the producer strain, or because the physical (e.g., filtration) or chemical (pH, solvents, affinity separation) nature of the production process can be relied upon to exclude passage of an infectious agent. 

The delayed type hypersensitivity response (DTH) is an assay frequently used to assess the T cell response to commonly encountered microbial antigens. It involves intradermal injection of antigens to which the majority of individuals are immune (known as recall antigens) such as vaccinia, herpes simplex, and mumps viruses, Candida, and tetanus toxoid. In normal individuals, after 24-48 hours, an inflammatory filtrate results in local edema and induration, the diameter of which can be measured. A negative reaction to all the antigens (anergy) is usually reflected by decreased lymphocyte function as measured in vitro and is frequently seen in AIDS and ARC patients. 

Viruses (enteric) Require 99.99% removal/inactivation by disinfection and filtration Gastrointestinal illness, diarrhea, vomiting, cramps... 

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