Pathogenic Escherichia coli in rural household container waters

Abstract

Plastic containers in the range of 5-20 L are widely used - especially in rural African settings - to collect, transport and store water for domestic use, including drinking, bathing and hygiene. The pathogen content of the waters in these containers has not been adequately characterized as yet. This paper presents the primary findings of a synoptic survey of drinking water quality samples from these containers and involved collection of bacterial indicator and pathogenicity gene data. In total, 571 samples of a variety of waters were taken in rural communities in South Africa and the Escherichia coli numbers measured. Of the E. coli positive samples, 46% (n = 148) were screened for the presence of E. coli pathogen gene markers. Though synoptic, the survey provided many insights into the issues that drove the study. Container use markedly degraded water quality as judged by indicator counts, even where improved water supply services were in place. Household container use also appeared to promote regrowth or contamination of containers with pathogenic E. coli strains. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis also showed that the diversity of potential pathogenic E. coli carrying virulence genes was great. All seven genes screened for (Ial, Stx1, Stx2, EaeA, Eagg, ST, LT) were found in the waters, alone or as mixtures (number of different combinations = 31) including those characteristic of the more dangerous invasive and haemorrhagic E. coli strains. Given the central role of containers in the management of water supply to rural communities, it is clear the microbiology of these waters requires much further characterization.

The Impact of Human Activities on Microbial Quality of Rivers in the Vhembe District, South Africa

“…The negative impact of contaminated drinking water on human health has been documented in many studies [3,4,32,33]. Human and animal activities were observed to play a role in the contribution of E. coli to the environment including in river waters [34].…”

Hand-to-Mouth Contacts Result in Greater Ingestion of Feces than Dietary Water Consumption in Tanzania: A Quantitative Fecal Exposure Assessment Model

“…We chose to model the amount of fecal matter ingested by children from hands and water and not the dose of enteric pathogens ingested as would be standard in risk modeling approaches such as a quantitative microbial risk assessment . The reason we chose this approach is because there is a striking lack of data on enteric pathogen concentrations in household environments of low-income countries. − The lack of data is due to the difficulty measuring low prevalence, low concentration targets in environment matrices, making the collection and processing of environmental samples for pathogen detection in low-resource settings technically difficult, expensive, and often logistically infeasible. Also, by analyzing fecal ingestion instead of pathogens, the model can estimate potential impacts of behavioral interventions on various fecal-oral transmitted diseases and health impacts for children in low-income countries, not just the specific pathogen(s) modeled and not just diarrheal disease (e.g., soil-transmitted helminths, environmental enteropathy, malnutrition, schistosomiasis, respiratory infection, and trachoma). , …”

Reducing Escherichia Coli Contamination on Dringking Water Stations in Pasuruan, East Java, Indonesia.

“…Res. 7 (7) [5], there is no difference between E. coli in intestine, in environment, and the calculation of coliform individuals is valid. E. coli which spreading in environment had potential for contaminating household watersource and drinking water station.…”

“…Jagals et al [7] found that the seven genes of invasive and hemorrhagic E. coli strains in the waters. Container had a central role in supplying water to rural communities so further microbiological characterization in water is so much needed.…”