The group at NIB actively participates in the yearly organized »Water days« (Vodni dnevi), where they present their last findings in the field of concentration/detection of viruses in water and the research of new tools for their inactivation. The event is organized by the Slovenian society for water protection and it is the best environment where to share new tools that can help to improve the safety of Slovenian water bodies in the future. Amongst other results they exposed the presence of viruses in under-gound waters. Methodologies used in the project helped in establishing monitoring of SARS CoV 2 in waste waters, since the very beginning of COVID 19 epidemics, and in following the trends regarding the numbers of infected people and and appearance of new genetic variants.
F.30 Professional assessment of the situation
COBISS.SI-ID: 4474447Geological features importantly contribute to the quality of drinking water. Almost 50% of Slovenian drinking water originates from karstic water bodies, therefore it is important to sustain good microbiological quality. Microbiological drinking water safety is traditionally monitored mainly by bacterial parameters that indicate faecal contamination. These parameters leave behind microbes that can cause illness other than gastro-intestinal. This set of recommendations, written as white paper, focused on overlooked water-borne fungal contaminants known to cause allergies, opportunistic infections and intoxications in animals and humans, in particular on their occurrence, ecology, physiology and ecological factors contributing to their presence in tap water distribution systems.
F.22 Improvement to existing health/diagnostic methods/procedures
COBISS.SI-ID: 4349775At the international conference Bioinformatics - from algorithms to applications (BIATA), we have presented the methodological approach needed for the analysis of viruses in underground waters, also inhabited by cave salamander Proteus anguinus. The approach includes concentration of very diluted water sample, followed by isolation of nucleic acids and metagenomic analyses of the present viral DNA or RNA.
F.04 Increase of the technological level
COBISS.SI-ID: 33656323At the 20th European herpetological congress we have reported for the first time about the results of the first molecular monitoring regarding the presence of chytrid fungi in Slovenia. The situation was up to then known only for neighboring countries, where presence of Bd was confirmed in all of them, but not for Bsal. The preliminary monitoring did not confirm presence of any of the two chytrid species in Slovenia. However, later investigations revealed infection with Bd on one case only, in the NE region of Slovenia, close to the border with Hungary.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 5159247At the 19th European herpetological congress we have reported for the first time about potential microbial opportunistic pathogenic threats for cave salamander Proteus anguinus in captivity, where it is much more exposed to stress than in it's natural environment.
F.31 Development of standards
COBISS.SI-ID: 4429135