Arcobacterspp. isolated from untreated domestic effluent

Abstract

Significance and Impact of the Study: Studies have shown Arcobacter spp. to be present in domestic sewage in several European countries. This study supports previous findings with the first report of Arcobacter spp. in domestic sewage in the UK. This study suggests that Arcobacter spp. is present amongst local human populations, implicating it as an underestimated gastrointestinal pathogen in the UK and contributing to our understanding of this emerging pathogen and its presence within the UK. Providing a confirmation of the presence of Arcobacter in sewage, which supports previous studies, this paper will appeal to fellow researchers of Arcobacter, as well as healthcare and water treatment professionals concerned with microbiology, water safety and gastroenterology, potentially having a wide impact. AbstractArcobacter butzleri and Arcobacter cryaerophilus were isolated from samples of raw untreated domestic sewage influent from nine separate wastewater treatment facilities in Cheshire, UK. This is the first report of Arcobacter spp. from sewage in the UK and suggests that Arcobacter spp. may be present in the human community.

Arcobacter

“…There is an increasing body of literature detailing that Arcobacter is a consistent component of human sewage systems (Stampi et al, 1993(Stampi et al, , 1999Moreno et al, 2003;González et al, 2007Collado et al, 2008Collado et al, , 2010McLellan et al, 2010;Fisher et al, 2014;Merga et al, 2014;Banting et al, 2016;Webb et al, 2016b), likely able to replicate outside of a vertebrate host within the sewage infrastructure system and wastewater treatment plants Shanks et al, 2013, Fisher et al, 2014. This supports the observation of the levels of Arcobacter found in wastewater being much higher than expected based on human carriage rates.…”

“…This supports the observation of the levels of Arcobacter found in wastewater being much higher than expected based on human carriage rates. Humanassociated Arcobacter species A. butzleri, A. cryaerophilus and A. skirrowii have all be isolated from sewage samples by culture based methods (Stampi et al, 1993(Stampi et al, , 1999Moreno et al, 2003;González et al, 2007González et al, , 2010Levican et al, 2013a;Merga et al, 2014;Levican et al, 2016), and presumably could be present in human excreta in waterless sanitation or open defecation situations. As noted above, sewage has been the origin of some of the recently described new species in the genera.…”

Arcobacter: an emerging food-borne zoonotic pathogen, its public health concerns and advances in diagnosis and control – a comprehensive review

“…Several reports regarding the presence of Arcobacter in water have been documented and hence consumption of contaminated water acts as an efficient source of infection (Jacob et al 1993;Gonz alez et al 2010;Collado et al 2010;Lee & Choi 2013). Sewage contamination is another possible way of infection (Collado et al 2010;Merga et al 2014). Among the bacterial population in sewage, Arcobacter shares in the region of 5%-11% (Fisher et al 2014).…”

Microplastic-Associated Biofilms: A Comparison of Freshwater and Marine Environments

“…Indeed, Arcobacter spp. have been found to be prevalent members of the "landfill microbiome" in the USA [51] and have also been detected in sewage [52].…”