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Abundance of Pathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence-Associated Genes in Well and Borehole Water Used for Domestic Purposes in a Peri-Urban Community of South Africa

In the absence of pipe-borne water, many people in Africa, especially in rural communities, depend on alternative water sources such as wells, boreholes and rivers for household and personal hygiene. Poor maintenance and nearby pit latrines, however, lead to microbial pollution of these sources. We...

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Autores principales: Abia, Akebe Luther King, Schaefer, Lisa, Ubomba-Jaswa, Eunice, Le Roux, Wouter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5369156/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28335539
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14030320
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author Abia, Akebe Luther King
Schaefer, Lisa
Ubomba-Jaswa, Eunice
Le Roux, Wouter
author_facet Abia, Akebe Luther King
Schaefer, Lisa
Ubomba-Jaswa, Eunice
Le Roux, Wouter
author_sort Abia, Akebe Luther King
collection PubMed
description In the absence of pipe-borne water, many people in Africa, especially in rural communities, depend on alternative water sources such as wells, boreholes and rivers for household and personal hygiene. Poor maintenance and nearby pit latrines, however, lead to microbial pollution of these sources. We evaluated the abundance of Escherichia coli and the prevalence of pathogenic E. coli virulence genes in water from wells, boreholes and a river in a South African peri-urban community. Monthly samples were collected between August 2015 and November 2016. In all, 144 water samples were analysed for E. coli using the Colilert 18 system. Virulence genes (eagg, eaeA, stx1, stx2, flichH7, ST, ipaH, ibeA) were investigated using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Mean E. coli counts ranged between 0 and 443.1 Most Probable Number (MPN)/100 mL of water sample. Overall, 99.3% of samples were positive for at least one virulence gene studied, with flicH7 being the most detected gene (81/140; 57.6%) and the stx2 gene the least detected gene (8/140; 5.7%). Both intestinal and extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli genes were detected. The detection of virulence genes in these water sources suggests the presence of potentially pathogenic E. coli strains and is a public health concern.
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spelling pubmed-53691562017-04-05 Abundance of Pathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence-Associated Genes in Well and Borehole Water Used for Domestic Purposes in a Peri-Urban Community of South Africa Abia, Akebe Luther King Schaefer, Lisa Ubomba-Jaswa, Eunice Le Roux, Wouter Int J Environ Res Public Health Article In the absence of pipe-borne water, many people in Africa, especially in rural communities, depend on alternative water sources such as wells, boreholes and rivers for household and personal hygiene. Poor maintenance and nearby pit latrines, however, lead to microbial pollution of these sources. We evaluated the abundance of Escherichia coli and the prevalence of pathogenic E. coli virulence genes in water from wells, boreholes and a river in a South African peri-urban community. Monthly samples were collected between August 2015 and November 2016. In all, 144 water samples were analysed for E. coli using the Colilert 18 system. Virulence genes (eagg, eaeA, stx1, stx2, flichH7, ST, ipaH, ibeA) were investigated using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Mean E. coli counts ranged between 0 and 443.1 Most Probable Number (MPN)/100 mL of water sample. Overall, 99.3% of samples were positive for at least one virulence gene studied, with flicH7 being the most detected gene (81/140; 57.6%) and the stx2 gene the least detected gene (8/140; 5.7%). Both intestinal and extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli genes were detected. The detection of virulence genes in these water sources suggests the presence of potentially pathogenic E. coli strains and is a public health concern. MDPI 2017-03-20 2017-03 /pmc/articles/PMC5369156/ /pubmed/28335539 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14030320 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Abia, Akebe Luther King
Schaefer, Lisa
Ubomba-Jaswa, Eunice
Le Roux, Wouter
Abundance of Pathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence-Associated Genes in Well and Borehole Water Used for Domestic Purposes in a Peri-Urban Community of South Africa
title Abundance of Pathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence-Associated Genes in Well and Borehole Water Used for Domestic Purposes in a Peri-Urban Community of South Africa
title_full Abundance of Pathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence-Associated Genes in Well and Borehole Water Used for Domestic Purposes in a Peri-Urban Community of South Africa
title_fullStr Abundance of Pathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence-Associated Genes in Well and Borehole Water Used for Domestic Purposes in a Peri-Urban Community of South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Abundance of Pathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence-Associated Genes in Well and Borehole Water Used for Domestic Purposes in a Peri-Urban Community of South Africa
title_short Abundance of Pathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence-Associated Genes in Well and Borehole Water Used for Domestic Purposes in a Peri-Urban Community of South Africa
title_sort abundance of pathogenic escherichia coli virulence-associated genes in well and borehole water used for domestic purposes in a peri-urban community of south africa
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5369156/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28335539
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14030320
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