UseofGenomicProbes ToDetect Hepatitis A Virusand Enterovirus RNAsinWildShellfish andRelationship ofViral Contamination toBacterial Contamination

andethanol precipitation wasassayed bydotblot hybridization. Theprobes usedwereaspecific HAV probecorresponding tothe3'end(3Dpolymerase coding region) andanenterovirus probecorresponding tothe5'noncoding region. Themethodwasfirst tested under experimental conditions byusing virus-spiked shellfish before being applied underfield conditions. Ourresults showthatshellfish werehighly contaminated: enterovirus andHAV RNAswerefoundin63and67%, respectively, ofsamples examined withtheriboprobes. Onthesamesite, viral (HAVandenterovirus) RNAs werefoundinalarger fraction ofcockles thanmussels. Statistical tests ofdependence showednorelationship between viral contamination andbacterial contamination (evaluated byfecal coliform counts).