scholarly journals Identification of human fecal pollution sources in a coastal area: a case study at Oostende (Belgium)

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Seurinck ◽  
Martin Verdievel ◽  
Willy Verstraete ◽  
Steven D. Siciliano
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Real Time Pcr ◽  
Coastal Area ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Fecal Pollution ◽  
Fecal Coliforms ◽  
Indicator Organisms ◽  
Pcr Assay ◽  
Human Specific

From April to June 2001, a monitoring study at Oostende (Belgium) was conducted to obtain an insight into fecal pollution impairing water quality at this coastal area. Eight sampling sites were selected based on the historically low water quality at these sites compared to the remainder of the area. Indicator organisms such as fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli and fecal streptococci were monitored by plating. A real-time PCR assay for quantification of the human-specific HF183 Bacteroides 16S rRNA genetic marker was used to detect human fecal pollution at the sampling sites. Human fecal pollution was detected at all sampling sites. However, the frequency of detection ranged from 30–100% and the amount of human-specific Bacteroides markers recorded varied between the sampling sites. Concentrations of 107 human-specific Bacteroides markers per l to levels below the detection limit of the real-time PCR assay were recorded. Our results indicate that human fecal pollution is a re-occurring problem in certain areas. Of all the environmental parameters monitored during the study, only rainfall was strongly related to the detection of the indicator organisms and the human-specific Bacteroides marker.

Development of a Human-Specific Real-Time PCR Assay for the Simultaneous Quantitation of Total Genomic and Male DNA*

2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 758-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie M. Horsman ◽  
Jeffrey A. Hickey ◽  
Robin W. Cotton ◽  
James P. Landers ◽  
Lewis O. Maddox
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Real Time Pcr ◽  
Pcr Assay ◽  
Human Specific

scholarly journals Persistence and Differential Survival of Fecal Indicator Bacteria in Subtropical Waters and Sediments

2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 3041-3048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly L. Anderson ◽  
John E. Whitlock ◽  
Valerie J. Harwood
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Contaminated Soil ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Fecal Pollution ◽  
Decay Rates ◽  
Fecal Coliforms ◽  
Water Type ◽  
Indicator Organisms ◽  
Differential Survival ◽  
Fecal Indicator

ABSTRACT Fecal coliforms and enterococci are indicator organisms used worldwide to monitor water quality. These bacteria are used in microbial source tracking (MST) studies, which attempt to assess the contribution of various host species to fecal pollution in water. Ideally, all strains of a given indicator organism (IO) would experience equal persistence (maintenance of culturable populations) in water; however, some strains may have comparatively extended persistence outside the host, while others may persist very poorly in environmental waters. Assessment of the relative contribution of host species to fecal pollution would be confounded by differential persistence of strains. Here, freshwater and saltwater mesocosms, including sediments, were inoculated with dog feces, sewage, or contaminated soil and were incubated under conditions that included natural stressors such as microbial predators, radiation, and temperature fluctuations. Persistence of IOs was measured by decay rates (change in culturable counts over time). Decay rates were influenced by IO, inoculum, water type, sediment versus water column location, and Escherichia coli strain. Fecal coliform decay rates were significantly lower than those of enterococci in freshwater but were not significantly different in saltwater. IO persistence according to mesocosm treatment followed the trend: contaminated soil > wastewater > dog feces. E. coli ribotyping demonstrated that certain strains were more persistent than others in freshwater mesocosms, and the distribution of ribotypes sampled from mesocosm waters was dissimilar from the distribution in fecal material. These results have implications for the accuracy of MST methods, modeling of microbial populations in water, and efficacy of regulatory standards for protection of water quality.

Water Quality of Swimming Pools in Jerusalem

1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 287-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Lerman ◽  
O. Lev ◽  
A. Adin ◽  
E. Katzenelson
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Fecal Coliforms ◽  
Pathogenic Microorganisms ◽  
Swimming Pools ◽  
Indicator Organisms ◽  
Indicator Microorganisms ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Safe Water ◽  
Indirect Information

The Israel Ministry of Health is now revising its regulations for the assurance of safe water quality in public swimming pools. Since it is not possible to monitor each of the pathogenic microorganisms, it is often recommended to monitor indicator bacteria which provide indirect information on the water quality in the swimming pool. Three indicator microorganisms are often recommended: coliform counts (total coliforms, fecal coliforms or E. Coli), staphylococcus aureus and pseudomonas aeruginosa. A four year survey of the water quality of swimming pools in the Jerusalem District was conducted in order to determine whether the monitoring of all three indicators is necessary to assure safe water quality or is it sufficient to monitor only a single microorganism. A statistical analysis, conducted by using several different statistical techniques, reveals that the populations of the three indicator organisms are significantly interdependent but the correlations between each pair of these indicators are not sufficient to base a prediction of any of the organisms based on the measurements of the others. Therefore, it is concluded that monitoring of all three indicators should be recommended in order to provide an adequate picture of the water quality in swimming pools.

scholarly journals A misleading false-negative result of Pneumocystis real-time PCR assay due to a rare punctual mutation: A French multicenter study

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solène Le Gal ◽  
Florence Robert-Gangneux ◽  
Yann Pépino ◽  
Sorya Belaz ◽  
Céline Damiani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Multicenter Study ◽  
Real Time Pcr ◽  
False Negative ◽  
False Negative Result ◽  
Pcr Assay

scholarly journals Differing Effects of Standard and Harsh Nucleic Acid Extraction Procedures on Diagnostic Helminth Real-Time PCRs Applied to Human Stool Samples

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 188
Author(s):  
Tanja Hoffmann ◽  
Andreas Hahn ◽  
Jaco J. Verweij ◽  
Gérard Leboulle ◽  
Olfert Landt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Real Time Pcr ◽  
Acid Extraction ◽  
Nucleic Acid Extraction ◽  
Pcr Assay ◽  
Bead Beating ◽  
Stool Samples ◽  
Pcr Assays ◽  
Human Stool

This study aimed to assess standard and harsher nucleic acid extraction schemes for diagnostic helminth real-time PCR approaches from stool samples. A standard procedure for nucleic acid extraction from stool and a procedure including bead-beating as well as proteinase K digestion were compared with group-, genus-, and species-specific real-time PCR assays targeting helminths and nonhelminth pathogens in human stool samples. From 25 different in-house and commercial helminth real-time PCR assays applied to 77 stool samples comprising 67 historic samples and 10 external quality assessment scheme samples positively tested for helminths, higher numbers of positive test results were observed after bead-beating-based nucleic acid extraction for 5/25 (20%) real-time PCR assays irrespective of specificity issues. Lower cycle threshold values were observed for one real-time PCR assay after the standard extraction scheme, and for four assays after the bead-beating-based scheme. Agreement between real-time PCR results after both nucleic acid extraction strategies according to Cohen’s kappa ranged from poor to almost perfect for the different assays. Varying agreement was observed in eight nonhelminth real-time PCR assays applied to 67 historic stool samples. The study indicates highly variable effects of harsh nucleic acid extraction approaches depending on the real-time PCR assay used.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document