Fecal pollution source tracking and thalassogenic diseases: The temporal-spatial concordance between maximum concentrations of human mitochondrial DNA in seawater and Hepatitis A outbreaks among a coastal population

Abstract Human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genetic markers are abundant in sewage and highly human-specific, suggesting a great potential for the environmental application as human fecal pollution indicators. Limited data are available on the occurrence and co-occurrence of human mtDNA with fecal bacterial markers in surface waters, and how the abundance of these markers is influenced by rain events. A 1-year sampling study was conducted in a suburban watershed impacted by human sewage contamination to evaluate the performance of a human mtDNA-based marker along with the bacterial genetic markers for human-associated Bacteroidales (BacHum and HF183) and Escherichia coli. Additionally, the human mtDNA-based assay was correlated with rain events and other markers. The mtDNA marker was detected in 92% of samples (n = 140) with a mean concentration of 2.96 log10 copies/100 ml throughout the study period. Human mtDNA was detected with greater abundance than human-associated Bacteroidales that could be attributed to differences in the decay of these markers in the environment. The abundance of all markers was positively correlated with rain events, and human mtDNA abundance was significantly correlated with various bacterial markers. In general, these results should support future risk assessment for impacted watersheds, particularly those affected by human fecal pollution, by evaluating the performance of these markers during rain events. This article has been made Open Access thanks to the generous support of a global network of libraries as part of the Knowledge Unlatched Select initiative.

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Application of enteric viruses for fecal pollution source tracking in environmental waters

Environment International ◽

10.1016/j.envint.2012.02.009 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 45 ◽

pp. 151-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

Kelvin Wong ◽

Theng-Theng Fong ◽

Kyle Bibby ◽

Marirosa Molina

Keyword(s):

Enteric Viruses ◽

Pollution Source ◽

Fecal Pollution ◽

Source Tracking ◽

Environmental Waters

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Fecal pollution source tracking in waters intended for human supply based on archaeal and bacterial genetic markers

Journal of Water and Health ◽

10.2166/wh.2015.292 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 985-995 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kayo Bianco ◽

Camila Barreto ◽

Samara Sant'Anna Oliveira ◽

Leonardo Henriques Pinto ◽

Rodolpho Mattos Albano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Sensitivity ◽

Pollution Source ◽

Fecal Pollution ◽

Source Tracking ◽

The Novel ◽

Tropical Water ◽

Novel Host ◽

Bacterial Genetic

The determination of fecal pollution sources in aquatic ecosystems is essential to estimate associated health risks. In this study, we evaluate eight microbial source tracking (MST) markers including host-specific Bacteroidales and Methanobrevibacter spp. for discrimination between human, bovine, equine, and swine fecal contamination in waters intended for human supply. Overall, the novel host-specific archaeal and bacterial primers proposed in this study demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity. Markers for the Archaea domain were more prevalent in the fecal and water samples studied. We conclude that the investigations regarding the sources of fecal pollution in public water supplies can contribute to improve the quality of human health. To our knowledge, this is the first analysis using both archaeal and bacterial fecal MST markers on tropical water bodies of Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil.

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