Charm Sciences has announced the launch of Fast Phage, a quick way to screen for coliphage in water.
Fast Phage provides positive prediction within eight hours and coliphage plaque confirmation at 16 hours - enabling a same-day public health response to contaminated drinking water.
Coliphage are indicators of faecal contamination in ground water, similar to E coli.
While the presence of E coli indicates that the water may contain potentially harmful bacteria, the presence of coliphage indicates that the water may also contain potentially harmful viruses, such as noroviruses or hepatitis A.
Since 1990, viral contamination has been the source of more than half of all waterborne illnesses.
Traditional bacterial (coliform/E coli) indicator tests for drinking water remain blind to viral contamination, so even if water passes bacterial inspection, it could still contain a viral risk.
Furthermore, since viruses have greater survivability and resistance to water disinfection, coliphage may serve as better overall indicators of ground water quality.
By providing fast coliphage detection, Fast Phage is a suitable complement or substitute to bacterial testing, enabling greater confidence in the quality and safety of drinking water.
Fast Phage includes single-dose ready-to-use reagents, making the test simple and convenient to perform, according to Charm.
Test kits are available for male-specific (F+) and somatic coliphage.
Fast Phage is a simplified modification of EPA Method 1601 - an approved coliphage detection method specified in the Ground Water Rule.
Fast Phage's 16-hour plaque result is equivalent to Method 1601 according to performance criteria defined in the method.
The test features a rapid and easy-to-read fluorescence prediction step.
The same-day fluorescent feature is predictive of the 16-hour result in external lab evaluations.
This makes Fast Phage the first drinking water quality test to provide results within one working day.
