Associate Professor of Water and Food Hygiene

Unit Water Hygiene Institute for Hygiene and Applied Immunology
Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology
Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1090 Vienna, Austria

Phone: +43 (0)1 40160 - 33051
FAX: +43 (0)1 40160 - 933000

E-mail: regina.sommer@meduniwien.ac.at

Homepage: http://www.meduniwien.ac.at/hai/

Research Interests
Health related water microbiology, water disinfection (e.g. by ultraviolet radiation: quality of water for medical purposes (e.g. water for the treatment of hemodialysis patients), monitoring and management of the quality of water resources, treatment and distribution.

Water hygiene: prevention of water-associated diseases

The quality of water is basis for human health in all areas of life. Our unit is dealing with the microbiological and chemical aspects of drinking water resources, of water for medical purposes, of bathing water in pools and surface water as well as of waste water.
Special focus is laid on an integrated approach to prevent water associated diseases. This holistic strategy consists of monitoring, water treatment and disinfection, measures for quality control and water analysis.
Our unit has implemented an accredited testing and inspection body for water hygiene. Our knowledge is implemented in national and international guidelines and regulations.
Core areas in our research are the UV inactivation of water transmittable pathogenic and indicator microorganisms, as well as the evaluation of the microbicidal efficacy of UV disinfection systems performed at our Water-Test-Centre Wiental.
Further special interest is laid on the water quality in health care facilities.

Our unit is partner of the Interuniversity Cooperation Center ICC Water and Health together with the Research Group Environmental Microbiology and Molecular Ecology (Institute of Chemical Engineering, TU Wien). http://www.waterandhealth.at

More information about the various research projects can be found <here>


Selected References

Anna Carratalà, Marta Rusiñol, Jesús Rodriguez-Manzano, Laura Guerrero-Latorre, Regina Sommer, Rosina Girones Environmental effectors on the inactivation of human adenoviruses in water. Food and Environmental Virology, 5 (4): 203-214 (2013)

Schaar H., R. Sommer, R. Schürhagl, P. Yillia and N. Kreuzinger. Microorganism inactivation by an ozonation step optimized for micropollutant removal from tertiary effluent. Water Science and Technology 68 (2): 311-318 (2013)

Reischer, G.H, J.E. Ebdon, J.M. Haider, N. Schuster, W. Ahmed, J. Åström, AR. Blanch, G. Blöschl, D, Byamukama, T. Coakleyi, C. Ferguson, G. Goshu, G.P. Ko, A.M. de Roda Husman, D. Mushi, R. Poma, B. Pradhan, V. Rajal, M. Schade, R. Sommer, H. Taylor, E.M. Toth, V. Vrajmasu, S. Wuertz , R.L. Mach, and AH. Farnleitner. Performance characteristics of qPCR assays targeting human- and ruminant-associated Bacteroidetes for microbial source tracking across sixteen countries on six continents. Environmental Science and Technology 47 (15):8548-8556 (2013)

Vierheilig J, C. Frick, R. Mayer, A. Kirschner, G. Reischer, J. Derx , R. Mach, R. Sommer* and AH Farnleitner. Clostridium perfringens is not Suitable for the Indication of Fecal Pollution from Ruminant Wildlife but is Associated with Excreta from Non-Herbivorous Animals and Human Sewage. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 79: 5089-5092 (2013)

Dombrowsky M, A. Kirschner and R. Sommer R. PVC-piping promotes growth of Ralstonia pickettii in dialysis water treatment facilities. Water Science and Technology 68(4): 929-33 (2013)