Bluephage®, a biotechnological company specialized in producing testing kits to identify faecal and viral indicators within water, announces the launch of the ENUMERA® Rapid Quantitative Kit BPF – SE, a groundbreaking advancement in the field of water safety. This revolutionary kit empowers municipal water utilities, food and beverage manufacturers and water treatment facilities with the tools they need to protect public health through precise quantification of somatic coliphages at 1 PFU/100mL.
Coliphages are a type of virus that infects bacteria and can remain in the environment for longer periods than bacteria. Their presence can indicate the possible presence of other viruses in the environment, albeit at lower concentrations. By monitoring coliphages, it is possible to prevent diseases caused by human viruses.
Unlike traditional methods that take up to 24 hours for results, the ENUMERA® Quantitative Rapid Kit BPF-SE delivers actionable data in just 6.5 hours. This dramatic reduction in response time marks a significant leap forward in the realm of water safety.
The ENUMERA® Rapid Quantitative Kit simplifies the detection process with its ready-to-use Free-agar technology, ensuring high sensitivity and specificity. Gone are the days of overnight plating and manual reading; this kit streamlines the process, requiring only 20 minutes of hands-on time. Results are easily uploaded to the cloud via the Bluephage® App, and data is read automatically, offering the closest technique to real-time monitoring in a fully electronic format.
But the true power of Bluephage’s patented Rapid Kit technology lies in its capacity to enhance microbial risk assessment. The kit allows for both more sensitive and faster detection of infectious somatic coliphages as viral indicators for microbiological risk assessment, making it an invaluable tool from both a public health and regulatory compliance perspective.
According to the World Health Organization, a staggering 1.7 billion people globally use drinking water sources contaminated with faecal matter in 2022. This alarming statistic underscores the critical importance of water safety. Many governments and regulatory bodies have implemented stringent water quality standards requiring continuous monitoring of waterborne pathogens, including somatic coliphages. Incorporating somatic coliphages as a control parameter in water evaluation, as seen in the European Drinking Water Directive in December 2020, has further highlighted the necessity for precise detection methods. The recently enacted Regulation (EU) 2020/741 of the European Parliament in May 2020 mandates the control of coliphages to validate reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation.
Bluephage’s Rapid Kit technology is designed to help meet these requirements effectively and efficiently, making strides toward Sustainable Development Goal #6: clean water and sanitation for all.
Key Benefits of Bluephage® ENUMERA® Rapid Quantitative Kit BPF-SE:
Enhanced Microbial Risk Assessment: This quantitative rapid detection kit is designed to specifically detect and enumerate somatic coliphages, providing more accurate information on the microbiological quality of water and potential risks associated with contamination. Bacteriophages circumvent the challenges associated with bacterial indicators in terms of resuscitating or recovering injured bacterial cells. These challenges often impede the accurate assessment of bacterial viability, infectivity, and subsequently hinder the facilitation of Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment. This is an advantage when it is necessary to evaluate and certify the clear effects of the treatment process, providing more accurate information on the microbiological quality of the water.
Rapid Detection: The kit allows for the quantification of microbiological risks within a single working day, essential for swift decision-making in emergency situations and outbreak response. Reduced response time helps to take timely preventive and corrective measures and to determine the associated risks in water treatment processes.
Viable and Infectious Pathogen Risk Assessment: The kit’s ability to quantify infectious coliphages provides crucial insights into the presence of viable or infectious viral pathogens in water, allowing preemptive risk mitigation.
Disease Prevention: Early and accurate detection of pathogens in water is essential for preventing waterborne disease outbreaks, ensuring public health safety.
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Bluephage Coliphages Roundtable
