Occurrence of Listeria spp. in Effluents of French Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants

Abstract

Listeria spp. were found in most treated waters (84.4%) and raw sludge (89.2%) of six French urban wastewater treatment plants and one composting facility, examined monthly over a 1-year period. Most strains belonged to Listeria monocytogenes, serotypes 4b/4e being predominant. Sludge composting and liming reduced or prevented Listeria contamination.

Differentiation of Listeria monocytogenes Serovars by Using Artificial Neural Network Analysis of Fourier-Transformed Infrared Spectra

“…Since many different contamination routes for this ubiquitous bacterium have been reported (19,27,34), the development of rapid and accurate typing methods is of particular importance. A substantial number of sensitive, discriminatory, and reproducible typing technologies have therefore been developed (20).…”

Studies on the Isolation of Listeria monocytogenes from Food, Water, and Animal Droppings: Environmental Health Perspective

“…Although rare, the disease is reported (Lyautey et al, 2007) to have a very high mortality rate (20-50%), thus making it of serious public health concern. Despite the general consensus that food is the primary route of transmission of this disease, wastewater has long been reported to be a potential reservoir for Listeria species and possible source of transmission (Paillard et al, 2005;Arslan and Ozdemir, 2008). Watkins and Sleath (1981) reported the prevalence of Listeria species in sewage at numbers far higher than those of Salmonella species.…”

“…Watkins and Sleath (1981) reported the prevalence of Listeria species in sewage at numbers far higher than those of Salmonella species. And recent studies suggest that Listeria species readily survive conventional wastewater treatment processes even after tertiary treatment (Paillard et al, 2005).…”

“…With reports of inadequate removal of Listeria pathogens from wastewater coming from the developed world (Paillard et al, 2005), one can safely presume that wastewater treatment plants in developing countries such as South Africa are inefficient at removing these pathogens from wastewater influents prior to discharge of the final effluents into the receiving waters for obvious reasons. Most studies (Mackintosh and Colvin, 2003;Obi et al, 2007;Obi et al, 2008) in the area of water quality in South Africa had focused almost exclusively on drinking or potable water supply with scanty reports in the literature on treated wastewater effluent as a source of pathogens for receiving waters.…”

Permanent colonization of creek sediments, creek water and limnic water plants by fourListeriaspecies in low population densities

“…in a longitudinal study in sediment and water plant samples have not yet been reported. Other studies focus on L. monocytogenes in waste water and sludge [68], fresh surface water and untreated sewage [69], sewage, sewage sludge and river water specimen [70]. These studies report n.s., not specified.…”