Health Risk Assessment Related to Waterborne Pathogens from the River to the Tap

Abstract

A two-year monitoring program of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts, Giardia duodenalis cysts, Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens spores and adenovirus was conducted in three large rivers in France used for recreational activities and as a resource for drinking water production. Fifty-liter river water and one thousand-liter tap water samples were concentrated using hollow-fiber ultrafiltration and analyzed by molecular biology or laser-scanning cytometry. In order to evaluate watershed land use influence on microorganism concentration changes, occurrence and seasonality of microorganisms were studied. The highest concentrations of protozoan parasites and C. perfringens were found for one of the three sites, showing a high proportion of agricultural territories, forests and semi-natural environments, which may be partly attributable to soil leaching due to rainfall events. On the contrary, the highest concentrations of adenoviruses were found at the two other sites, probably due to strong urban activities. Health risk assessment was evaluated for each waterborne pathogen regarding exposure during recreational activities (for a single or five bathing events during the summer). The calculated risk was lower than 0.5% for parasites and varied from 1% to 42% for adenovirus. A theoretical assessment of microorganism removal during the drinking water treatment process was also performed, and it showed that an absence of microorganisms could be expected in finished drinking water. This hypothesis was confirmed since all tested tap water samples were negative for each studied microorganism, resulting in a risk for drinking water consumption lower than 0.01% for parasites and lower than 0.5% for adenovirus.

Giardiasis in children: molecular genotyping, growth and calprotectin levels

“…Notification rates remain high, in particular in young children aged 0-4 years and in Eastern and Southern Europe 3 . Recent studies have identified the components of specific risk factors and ways of transmission 4 . A recent review in 19 Eastern European countries assessed the significance of Giardia spp.…”

New Molecular Tools: Application of the Μaqua Phylochip and Concomitant Fish Probes to Study Freshwater Pathogens From Samples Taken Along the Tiber River, Italy

“…Validation was performed by four µAQUA partners using either traditional cell counting regimes (cyanobacterial) to plate counts (bacteria) to magnetic beds/antibodies (protozoa) with good correlations between both methods. Results for three of the monitoring sites are published (the Tiber River above and below Rome, Italy [7], rivers near Paris, France [8], one lake in Bulgaria (9]). The µAQUA microarray was transferred into the EU project, MICROCOKIT (www.microcokit.eu), who sampled the entire length of the Tiber River in spring and autumn for two years, concentrating on four sites with pollution distinct types: pristine, agricultural, industrial and anthropogenic.…”

Influences of Land-Use Dynamics and Surface Water Systems Interactions on Water-Related Infectious Diseases—A Systematic Review

“…Examples were the high chemical oxygen demand (COD) found in water bodies in industrial cities such as Anshan, Liaoyang, Fushun, and Shenyang in China [69]. Bare-land/paved area Pollution of water through stormwater N, P, fecal coliform, E. coli [79,80] Water bodies (open water, recreational) Pollution with fecal matter E. coli, fecal matter, C. parvum oocysts, Giardia duodenalis cysts [32,35,79,81] Mining area Point-source pollution through stormwater runoff from mining areas N, P, COD, DO, heavy metals [74,76,82] Waste dumping/ landfill sites Wastewater solid waste disposal EC, pH, DO, Cu, lead [6,73] pH = Potential of Hydrogen; EC = Electro Conductivity; DO = Dissolved Oxygen; COD = Chemical Oxygen Demand; BOD = Biochemical Oxygen Demand; TSS = Total Dissolved Solids; N = Nitrogen; P = Phosphorus; K= Potassium; Cu = Copper.…”

“…Temperature, turbidity, pH Dengue [75] Temperature Malaria [59,75,87] E. coli, fecal coliform Cholera [45,61,62,81,88] E. coli, fecal coliform, turbidity, pH Dysentery [61,62,89] E. coli, fecal coliform Typhoid fever [61,62] E. coli, fecal coliform, BOD, temperature, DO Cryptosporidiosis [70,81] Fecal coliform Schistosomiasis [76,77,83,85,[90][91][92] E. coli, fecal coliform, temperature, turbidity Buruli ulcer [85] E. coli, fecal coliform, temperature, DO, BOD, TSS, turbidity Hookworm [92] pH = Potential of Hydrogen; DO = Dissolved Oxygen; BOD = Biochemical Oxygen Demand; TSS = Total Dissolved Solid.…”