Eric R Rhodes's research while affiliated with United States Environmental Protection Agency and other places

... (c)-(f) Microscopic images of Cryptosporidium oocysts (c) and Giaridia cysts (d) with brilliant apple-green FITC fluorescence of spherical objects 4-6 µm in diameter with brightly highlighted edges, (e) one to four sporozoites (S) per oocyst for Cryptosporidium, and (f) one or more discernable internal structure such as nuclei (N), median body (M), and/or axonemes (A). White arrows: brilliant apple green fluorescence staining Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts walls(Rhodes et al., 2012). (g-i) Inactivation of protozoa with a combination of EFT and chemical oxidants (g) Inactivation of Cryptosporidium by hydrogen peroxide. ...

... The extent of misprediction was exceptionally large for DNA phages, indicating that the time for inactivating DNA phage should be relatively longer (Supplementary Figure S6). The waterborne DNA virus family that needs special attention is Adenoviridae (62); however, they are less tolerant in the environment compared to the DNA phages identified in this study (65)(66)(67)(68); thus, DNA phages have been recommended as conservative surrogates in several disinfection methods, including solar disinfection and ammonia treatment. Although the inactivation time of DNA mammalian virus was shorter than that for phages in our analysis, available data on mammalian DNA viruses was limited (n = 5). ...

... Furthermore, while somatic and F+ coliphage decay rates were similar under sunlight-exposed conditions, somatic coliphage decay rates under shaded conditions were considerably lower compared to F+ (≤1.5 log 10 ). This implies that consistently higher concentrations of somatic coliphage (as compared to F+) frequently detected in ambient waters [78,[80][81][82][83] may be at least in part due to greater persistence of the somatic subgroup under shaded conditions (i.e., no direct exposure to ambient sunlight). This finding is novel and warrants further study, particularly as a comparison with viral pathogens. ...

... The results generated by this study give evidence that Candida's clinical abundance must be rather high to be detected in large quantities from wastewater, for accurate correlations to be determined. Future work should focus on increasing the sensitivity of C. auris detection in wastewater by considering large volume concentration methods (Abdelzaher et al., 2009;Bonilla et al., 2015;Francy et al., 2013;Haramoto et al., 2012;Hill et al., 2005;McMinn et al., 2018;Morales-Morales et al., 2003;Sassoubre et al., 2012) and methods to amplify the C. auris signal upon culture by minimizing the growth of other Candida species. Reduction of interfering Candida species will permit for the filtration of larger volumes while isolating pure C. auris cultures. ...

... Recreational activity in water environments such as rivers and lakes, where affected by untreated and treated wastewater, can be one of the causes of infection with enteric pathogens [6][7][8]. Some viruses, such as the pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), crAssphage, and F-specific bacteriophages (FPH), are expected to serve as indicators of viral contamination to complement the role of conventional fecal indicator bacteria [9][10][11][12]. ...

... To first establish the efficacy of the UV-LED, we inactivated B. pumilus spores, which are recognized as a standard biological indicator for sterilization by ionizing radiation. Due to the well characterized resistance to UV radiation [16][17][18], B. pumilus can be used in UV disinfection studies as a surrogate organism for UVresistant pathogens [19]. A kinetic analysis evaluating different UV-LED exposure times revealed that bacterial growth was reduced with as little as 15 s of exposure, but a > 2-Log (99%) reduction required at least 20 s of UV exposure (Fig. 1). ...

... The direct detection of pathogenic organisms in environmental waters, as opposed to culture-based methods for detecting pathogenic organisms, presents some of the same considerations as the detection of low-density species with environmental DNA; namely the rare and patchy nature of pathogenic organisms in environmental waters can require high volumes of water to be sampled for their detection. D-HFUF has been employed for the detection of a variety of viruses, bacteria, and protozoa(Holowecky et al., 2009) across a range of environmental water body types including rivers(Rhodes et al., 2016), lakes (McMinn et al., 2017, marine systems(Korajkic et al., 2021), groundwater (Morales-Morales et al., 2003;Olszewski et al., 2005), and wastewater(Gyawali et al., 2015;Wu et al., 2023); and has been successfully used to detect microbes in environmental waters across a range of water quality conditions(Korajkic et al., 2021;Mull & Hill, 2012;Smith & Hill, 2009). The success of D-HFUF for detecting eDNA of pathogenic organisms at low concentrations in a variety of aquatic environments indicates D-HFUF filtration may be a useful tool for capture and detection of eDNA from metazoan taxa with low abundance or low eDNA shedding rates across a wide range of habitats.The benefits of increased sample volume from D-HFUF relative to standard eDNA filtration approaches may not outweighthe additional time, sample processing steps, and financial cost associated with D-HFUF samples. ...

... Usually, human adenoviruses are present in all types of sludge (Sidhu and Toze, 2009). In the recent research the, adenovirus was effectively found in various types of sludge with high occurrence (Assis et al., 2017;Bibby and Peccia, 2013;Jebri et al., 2012;Rhodes et al., 2015;Schlindwein et al., 2010;Wong et al., 2010). ...

... Multi-barrier systems provides assured security of containment and prevents possible leakage into drains. 91 Clays such as smectites have high adsorptive potentials that enables it bind with other materials against leach have proven water impermeability and high swelling capability to act as sealants. 92 A multi-barrier system composed of clay and metals (canisters) would therefore be advantageous to effectively contain high-levels radioactive waste materials. ...

... In some cases, researchers have been forced to process samples using a range of alternative/uncommon RNA extraction kits or to use methods lacking an RNA extraction step, all with varying levels of success (Fomsgaard and Rosenstierne, 2020;Merindol et al., 2020;Torii et al., 2020;Wee et al., 2020). Commercially available RNA extraction kits can vary in efficiency and consistency in isolating viral RNA and as well as efficacy in removing PCR inhibitors, even when sourced from the same supplier (Iker et al., 2013;Griffin et al., 2014;Zhang et al., 2018). Pivoting to alternative methodologies combined with potential inconsistencies in RNA recovery, even from commercial kits, the RNA extraction step remains a potential risk for false-negative detections due to low efficiency. ...