Prevalence of mycobacteria in a swimming pool environment

Abstract

E . L EO N I, P. L EG NA N I, M. T . M UC C I A ND R . P IR A NI . 1999. A study was performed to evaluate the prevalence of non-tubercular mycobacteria in swimming pool environments. The bacteria in question were found in 88·2% of pool water samples. The most frequent species were Mycobacterium gordonae (73·5% of samples; range 1-840 cfu 100 ml −1 ), M. chelonei (38·2%; 2-360 cfu 100 ml −1 ) and M. fortuitum (35·3%; 2-250 cfu 100 ml −1 ). The same species were also recovered from the water at the different phases of the treatment cycle, with relative percentages similar to those of the pool water. Shower floors and pool edges also presented high concentrations of the mycobacteria (100% of samples) and M. marinum was isolated from the surfaces of pool edges on two occasions (4·5% of samples). The swimming pool environment provides a suitable habitat for the survival and reproduction of mycobacteria. Although mycobacteria are common in swimming pools, human mycobacterial disease associated with their use is rare. Apart from superficial infections with M. marinum, the risk of more serious diseases in subjects with weakened immune systems should not be underestimated, given the widespread presence of mycobacteria that are possible opportunistic pathogens and the direct contact bathers have with the water and aerosol.

Sanitary Conditions of Public Swimming Pools in Amman, Jordan

“…The increase in temperature encourages the growth of bacteria. This finding is consistent with other studies [1,6,14].…”

“…Free residual chlorine of less than 1mg/l was significantly associated with increased odds (8.29) of contamination. This indicates that chlorine concentration between 1-2 mg/l is a good operational index to control the quality of swimming pool water as shown by other studies [1,6,14]. Although free residual chlorine was available, some pools contained TC >1.1 MPN/100 ml; this may reflect recent contamination.…”

“…In spite of the importance and popularity of swimming pools in summer, they have been identified as posing a risk for infection by certain fast-growing environmental bacteria [1]. The most common disease caused by swimming pools is diarrhea.…”

Insights from the complete genome sequence of Mycobacterium marinum on the evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

“…These photochromogenic pigments protect it from UV damage in incident sunlight by reducing singlet oxygen species. Indeed, in contrast to M. tuberculosis, which has no environmental reservoirs, M. marinum has been found in various aquatic environments around the world, including swimming pools and drinking water (Dailloux et al 1980;Slosarek et al 1994;Toma 1998;Leoni et al 1999;Bardouniotis et al 2003;Hall-Stoodley et al 2006). It can form biofilms (Hall-Stoodley et al 2006) and replicate within protozoan hosts such as Dictyostelium discoidieum (Solomon et al 2003;Hagedorn and Soldati 2007) and Acanthamoeba polyphaga (Adekambi et al 2006) as well as cultured mammalian macrophages (Ramakrishnan and Falkow 1994).…”

The HPLC-double-cluster pattern of some Mycobacterium gordonae strains is due to their dicarboxy-mycolate content

“…It has been found in bottled table waters (Papapetropoulou et al, 1997) and is the most common mycobacterial isolate from swimming-pool environments (Leoni et al, 1999), probably due to its resistance to chlorine disinfection (Le Dantec et al, 2002). Several …”