Dr. Joan Jofre from the UB, invited by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as an expert in the microbiological analysis of water

 Dr. Joan Jofre, from the Health-Related Water Microbiology (MARS) research group at the University of Barcelona, ​​participated a few days ago in a working group of experts from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (United States Environmental Protection Agency, US-EPA) held in Washington DC in which the introduction of coliphages as new indicators of microbiological quality in bathing water analysis was valued.

The review by the US-EPA of the studies carried out on this indicator in recent years has allowed to conclude that coliphages are as good indicators of fecal contamination as the indicators provided in the current US-EPA regulations ( E. Coli and Enterococci). The study also included a very significant number of references to the UB MARS research group, which led Dr. Jofre to Washington DC.

The MARS research group currently has a patent for a somatic bacteriophage detection kit that reduces the analysis time to only three hours, when at present this test can take from 24 to 48 hours. The simple requirements of the product mean that any laboratory or analyst can measure this indicator. The definitive incorporation of somatic bacteriophages as indicators of bathing water quality by the US-EPA makes the valuation of this patent of utmost interest.