Water Microbiology. Bacterial Pathogens and Water
By J. Cabral. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2010
1,155 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Water is essential to life, but many people do not have access to clean and safe drinking water and many die of waterborne bacterial infections. In this review a general characterization of the most important bacterial diseases transmitted through water—cholera, typhoid fever and bacillary dysentery—is presented, focusing on the biology and ecology of the causal agents and on the diseases’ characteristics and their life cycles in the environment. The importance of pathogenic Escherichia coli strains and emerging pathogens in drinking water-transmitted diseases is also briefly discussed. Microbiological water analysis is mainly based on the concept of fecal indicator bacteria. The main bacteria present in human and animal feces (focusing on their behavior in their hosts and in the environment) and the most important fecal indicator bacteria are presented and discussed (focusing on the advantages and limitations of their use as markers). Important sources of bacterial fecal pollution of environmental waters are also briefly indicated. In the last topic it is discussed which indicators of fecal pollution should be used in current drinking water microbiological analysis. It was concluded that safe drinking water for all is one of the major challenges of the 21st century and that microbiological control of drinking water should be the norm everywhere. Routine basic microbiological analysis of drinking water should be carried out by assaying the presence of Escherichia coli by culture methods. Whenever financial resources are available, fecal coliform determinations should be complemented with the quantification of enterococci. More studies are needed in order to check if ammonia is reliable for a preliminary screening for emergency fecal pollution outbreaks. Financial resources should be devoted to a better understanding of the ecology and behavior of human and animal fecal bacteria in environmental waters.
Subfields: Endocrinology, Nutrition and Dietetics, Water Science and Technology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a198537aa39bd61ac63184080c4278c947528ba4
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Endocrinology
In Nutrition and Dietetics
In Water Science and Technology
Citations in the corpus
- The role of microorganisms in achieving the sustainable development goals (2018, background): “The regular enumeration of the microorganisms E. coli, Salmonella, Vibrio, and Shigella can immensely contribute in controlling water-borne diseases (Cabral, 2010).”
- Activated Carbon, Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene: Materials and Composites for Advanced Water Purification (2017, background): “Naturally occurring contaminants in water can be either compounds derived from the breakdown of organic matter that only pose low health impact to humans, and bacteria and viruses that can have significant health implications [3,4].”
- Removal of Pathogens by Membrane Bioreactors: A Review of the Mechanisms, Influencing Factors and Reduction in Chemical Disinfectant Dosing (2014, background): “The majority of pathogens in wastewater are enteric, that is they affect the digestive system, and present a serious health risk if ingested [18,19].”
- Antibiotic Use in Agriculture and Its Consequential Resistance in Environmental Sources: Potential Public Health Implications (2018, background): “Consequently, most of the gastrointestinal diseases of humans of public health concern including gastroenteritis, salmonellosis, shigellosis, cholera, listeriosis, campylobacteriosis, and yersiniosis are caused by pathogenic bacteria of public health and environmental importance via water and/or foo”
- Aquatic invasive species: challenges for the future (2015, background): “Although controlling contamination and proliferation of potential pathogens in freshwater is extremely challenging (Cabral, 2010), their control could be achieved partly at the level of the host, such as by infection tracking in human populations.”