Relationship between presence of Salmonella and indicators of faecal pollution in aquatic habitats

Abstract

The presence of Salmonella and its relationship with indicators of faecal pollution was investigated in aquatic habitats. The highest frequency was obtained in rivers (58.7% of samples) followed by freshwater reservoirs (14.8%) and sea water (5.9%). The sporadic presence of Salmonella ( 6 30%) on beaches with low concentrations of faecal streptococci (mean 25 CFU (100 ml) 3I ) may represent a potential risk for bathers in agreement with data found in previous epidemiological studies. Absence of Salmonella was observed only on beaches with very low densities (CFU (100 ml) 3I ) of indicator organisms (25 total coliforms, 13 faecal coliforms and 17 faecal streptococci). z 1998 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Comparison of the presence and partitioning behavior of indicator organisms and Salmonella spp. in an urban watershed

“…There remains some debate on whether fecal indicator bacteria are the best surrogates for Salmonella in receiving waters, mostly centering on the occasional recovery of viable Salmonella from waters in which coliforms or enterococci are absent (Morinigo et al 1990;Polo et al 1998). Results from the present study suggest that, while the average fraction of settleable bacteria is roughly equivalent for these bacteria and Salmonella in Northeast Creek, further work will be required to more thoroughly characterize Salmonella partitioning and resolve current uncertainties.…”

Salmonellae in the Environment

“…Significant correlations have been found between total coliforms, faecal coliforms and faecal streptococci and Salmonella in marine bathing sites in Portugal (Polo et al, 1998). Similarly, Arvanitidou et al (2005) noted a close relationship between the presence of Salmonella serovars and total coliforms in Greek rivers.…”

“…Sewage effluents, agricultural run-off and direct deposit of faecal materials from wild animals and birds are the major sources of the bacteria in aquatic environments (Alcaide et al, 1984;Baudart et al, 2000;Johnson et al, 2003;Abulreesh et al, 2005). Salmonella species have been found in almost all types of aquatic environments that receive faecal contamination, that include drinking water (Bhatta et al, 2007), rivers (Pianetti et al, 1998;Polo et al, 1998;Polo et al, 1999;Dionisio et al, 2000;Lemarchand & Lebaron, 2003;Arvanitidou et al, 2005;Haley et al, 2009), lakes (Claudon et al, 1971;Arvanitidou et al, 1995;Sharma & Rajput, 1996), ponds (Shellenbarger et al, 2008), marine waters (Matinez-Urtaza et al, 2004a;Martinez-Urtaza et al, 2004b;Martinez-Urtaza & Liebana, 2005;Harakeh et al, 2006), run-off water (Claudon et al, 1971), treated and untreated wastewater (Ho & Tam, 2000;Melloul et al, 2002;Espigares et al, 2006, Mafu et al, 2009 worldwide. Abulreesh et al (2004) were unable to detect salmonellae in water samples from a village pond that receives direct faecal contamination from waterfowl, nevertheless, they managed to isolate the bacterium from bottom sediments of the same pond.…”

Study of Groundwater Salinity in Few Districts Adjoining River Ganga in Uttar Pradesh - A Case Study

“…As such, the analysis indicate gross pollution of groundwater (Polo et al, 1998) As per field observation, it was noticed that sewage disposal practices like soak pits, pit latrines and septic tanks were in use. Cracks or holes in the well casing might have allowed microbial contamination of ground water through the permeable soil layer.…”