An evaluation of the Gelman Envirochek® capsule for the simultaneous concentration of Cryptosporidium and Giardia from water

Abstract

The Gelman Envirochek capsule is a membrane device for the simultaneous concentration of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts from water. Samples are filtered through a Supor® polyethersulphone membrane with a 1 μm absolute pore size. (Oo)cysts are mechanically eluted from the membrane fibre using a wrist action shaker and a nonionic detergent and concentrated by centrifugation. The concentrate can be further processed using any separation technique to separate the target organisms from other debris. This method enables multiple samples to be processed within 1 h. Recoveries from seeded tap and source water samples were in excess of 70% for Cryptosporidium and 80% for Giardia.