A Detection of Water-borne Bacterial and Protozoal Pathogens in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the USA
DOI: 10.54647/biology18129 71 Downloads 4808 Views
Author(s)
Abstract
The World Health Organization has emphasized the importance of screening water used for agricultural purposes in order to prevent potential water-borne and food-bone outbreaks.1 These outbreaks are linked to a variety of pathogens, especially Gram-negative bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. Multiple pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli and Giardia lamblia have been shown to be leading causative agents of water-borne and food-borne related infections.1 The purpose of this investigation was to detect the presence of these species in water collected from irrigation points and other municipal sources found in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the USA, and to compare our multi-national results. Another goal of this project was to evaluate the long-term efficacy of portable water filtration systems by screening for pre- or post- bacterial pathogens found in water samples. Results are based on polymerase chain reaction, gel electrophoresis, and direct immunofluorescence microscopy techniques to identify the microorganisms in our samples. Overall, of the Escherichia coli strains tested (Enteropathogenic/EPEC, Enterohemorrhagic/EHEC, Enteroaggregative/EAEC, and Enterotoxigenic/ETEC), we detected the EPEC and EHEC strains in our sample pool. In specific, we concluded that 75% of our water samples collected from international and domestic locations were positive for EPEC, and 8% of our samples were positive for EHEC. Regarding Giardia lamblia, we found all samples collected from Costa Rica and the United States positive for the protozoan. Finally, nearly all (89%) of the filters cleared all Escherichia coli contaminants.
Keywords
water-borne pathogens, E. coli strains, Giardia lamblia, agricultural water
Cite this paper
Konstantina Stavroulaki, Catherine Santanello,
A Detection of Water-borne Bacterial and Protozoal Pathogens in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the USA
, SCIREA Journal of Biology.
Volume 6, Issue 3, June 2021 | PP. 45-60.
10.54647/biology18129
References
[ 1 ] | Drinking-water. Retrieved July 21, 2020, from https://www.who.int/newsroom/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water |
[ 2 ] | Percival, S. L. (2004). Microbiology of waterborne diseases. Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press. |
[ 3 ] | Liu, L., Oza, S., Hogan, D., Perin, J., Rudan, I., Lawn, J., . . . Black, R. (2014, September 30). Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2000–13, with projections to inform post-2015 priorities: An updated systematic analysis. Retrieved July 21, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673614616986 |
[ 4 ] | Global Diarrhea Burden. (2015, December 17). Retrieved July 21, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/diarrhea-burden.html |
[ 5 ] | Water-related diseases. (2016, August 29). Retrieved July 21, 2020, from https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases-risks/diseases/diarrhoea/en/ |
[ 6 ] | Robins-Browne, R. M., Holt, K. E., Ingle, D. J., Hocking, D. M., Yang, J., & Tauschek, M. (2016). Are Escherichia coli Pathotypes Still Relevant in the Era of Whole-Genome Sequencing? Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 6. doi:10.3389/fcimb.2016.00141 |
[ 7 ] | Estrada-Garcia, T., Perez-Martinez, I., Bernal-Reynaga, R., & Zaidi, M. B. (2014). Enteroaggregative coli: A Pathogen Bridging the North and South. Current tropical medicine reports, 1(2), 88–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40475-014-0018-7 |
[ 8 ] | Giardia. (2015, July 22). Retrieved July 22, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/index.html |
[ 9 ] | Luz María Chacón, J., Lizeth Taylor, C., Carmen Valiente, A., Irene Alvarado, P., & Ximena Cortés, B. (2012). A DNA Pooling Based System to Detect Escherichia coli Virulence Factors in Fecal and Wastewater Samples. Brazilian journal of microbiology: [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology], 43(4), 1319–1326. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-838220120004000012 |
[ 10 ] | Reppell Santanello, C. (1990). The Incidence of Pathogens of Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Eastern Missouri. PhD Dissertation, St. Louis University. |
[ 11 ] | Ochoa, T. J., & Contreras, C. A. (2011). Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Infection in Children. Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases, 24(5), 478-483. doi:10.1097/qco.0b013e32834a8b8b |
[ 12 ] | Singh, T., Das, S., Ramachandran, V. G., Shah, D., Saha, R., Dar, S. A., & Rai, A. (2017). Typical & Atypical Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in diarrhoea & their Role as Carrier in Children Under Five. The Indian journal of medical research, 145(4), 551–557. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_25_15 |
[ 13 ] | E. coli (Escherichia coli). (2020, February 26). Retrieved September 21, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/index.html |
[ 14 ] | Chakraborty, S., Randall, A., Vickers, T. J., Molina, D., Harro, C. D., DeNearing, B., Brubaker, J., Sack, D. A., Bourgeois, A. L., Felgner, P. L., Liang, X., Mani, S., Wenzel, H., Townsend, R. R., Gilmore, P. E., Darsley, M. J., Rasko, D. A., & Fleckenstein, J. M. (2018). Human Experimental Challenge with Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Elicits Immune Responses to Canonical and Novel Antigens Relevant to Vaccine Development. The Journal of infectious diseases, 218(9), 1436–1446. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiy312 |
[ 15 ] | Behr, M. A., Kokoskin, E., Gyorkos, T. W., Cédilotte, L., Faubert, G. M., & Maclean, J. D. (1997). Laboratory Diagnosis for Giardia lamblia Infection: A Comparison of Microscopy, Coprodiagnosis and Serology. The Canadian journal of infectious diseases = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses, 8(1), 33–38. https://doi.org/10.1155/1997/270179 |
[ 16 ] | Keserue, H. A., Füchslin, H. P., Wittwer, M., Nguyen-Viet, H., Nguyen, T. T., Surinkul, N., Koottatep, T., Schürch, N., & Egli, T. (2012). Comparison of Rapid Methods for Detection of Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. (oo)cysts Using Transportable Instrumentation in a Field Deployment. Environmental science & technology, 46(16), 8952–8959. https://doi.org/10.1021/es301974m |
[ 17 ] | Squeeze Water Filtration System: Sawyer Products. Retrieved September 22, 2020, from https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-squeeze-filter/ |
[ 18 ] | Foodborne viruses: What you need to know: Retrieved December 9th, 2020. http://foodsafety.merieuxnutrisciences.com/2014/10/17/foodborne-viruses-what-you-need-to-know/ |
[ 19 ] | Maunula, L., Miettinen, I., von Bonsdorff, C.H. (2005). Norovirus outbreaks from drinking water. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 11(11): 1716–1721 doi: 10.3201/eid1111.050487 |
[ 20 ] | Water filtration. Retrieved December 9th, 2020. https://sawyer.com/water-filtration/ |
[ 21 ] | Lake Reventazon. Retrieved December 9th, 2020.https://geology.com/world/costa-rica-satellite-image.shtml |
[ 22 ] | Lake Attitlan. Retrieved December 8th, 2020. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lake+Atitl%C3%A1n/@14.6788048,-91.2714047,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x85894ac7c083b493:0xa6e33f7d6b54910!8m2!3d14.6906713!4d-91.2025207 |
[ 23 ] | Missouri River. Retrieved December 8th, 2020. https://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/states/missouri/missouri-river-map.html |
[ 24 ] | Shoal Creek Watershed. Retrieved December 8th, 2020. https://prod.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs141p2_030246.pdf |