ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2024
Detection of Salmonella Typhi bacteriophages in surface waters as a scalable approach to environmental surveillance.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review on the laboratory methodology for conducting wastewater and environmental surveillance forFrontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Statistical methods for predicting the presence of Salmonella Typhi in wastewater samples at Asante Akyem Agogo, Ghana.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Rapid, low-cost colorimetric detection ofmBio · 2025Article
- A cost-benefit analysis of using wastewater monitoring to guide typhoid vaccine campaigns.Tropical diseases, travel medicine and vaccines · 2025Article
- Genome sequences of bacteriophages that infectMicrobiology resource announcements · 2025Article
- Reuse, Repurpose, and Recycle: Bacteriophages and Microbial Surveillance (1921-2023).PHAGE (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2024Review
- A narrative review of wastewater surveillance: pathogens of concern, applications, detection methods, and challenges.Frontiers in public health · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEnvironmental surveillance, using detection of Salmonella Typhi DNA, has emerged as a potentially useful tool to identify typhoid-endemic settings; however, it is relatively costly and requires molecular diagnostic capacity. We sought to determine whether S. Typhi bacteriophages are abundant in water sources in a typhoid-endemic setting, using low-cost assays. METHODOLOGY: We collected drinking and surface water samples from urban, peri-urban and rural areas in 4 regions of Nepal. We performed a double agar overlay with S. Typhi to assess the presence of bacteriophages. We isolated and tested phages against multiple strains to assess their host range. We performed whole genome sequencing of isolated phages, and generated phylogenies using conserved genes.
findingsS. Typhi-specific bacteriophages were detected in 54.9% (198/361) of river and 6.3% (1/16) drinking water samples from the Kathmandu Valley and Kavrepalanchok. Water samples collected within or downstream of population-dense areas were more likely to be positive (72.6%, 193/266) than those collected upstream from population centers (5.3%, 5/95) (p=0.005). In urban Biratnagar and rural Dolakha, where typhoid incidence is low, only 6.7% (1/15, Biratnagar) and 0% (0/16, Dolakha) river water samples contained phages. All S. Typhi phages were unable to infect other Salmonella and non-Salmonella strains, nor a Vi-knockout S. Typhi strain. Representative strains from S. Typhi lineages were variably susceptible to the isolated phages. Phylogenetic analysis showed that S. Typhi phages belonged to the class Caudoviricetes and clustered in three distinct groups.
conclusionsS. Typhi bacteriophages were highly abundant in surface waters of typhoid-endemic communities but rarely detected in low typhoid burden communities. Bacteriophages recovered were specific for S. Typhi and required Vi polysaccharide for infection. Screening small volumes of water with simple, low-cost (~$2) plaque assays enables detection of S. Typhi phages and should be further evaluated as a scalable tool for typhoid environmental surveillance.
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