Microbial Indicators of Fecal Pollution: Recent Progress and Challenges in Assessing Water Quality
- PDF / 599,597 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 43 Downloads / 219 Views
WATER AND HEALTH (T WADE, SECTION EDITOR)
Microbial Indicators of Fecal Pollution: Recent Progress and Challenges in Assessing Water Quality David A. Holcomb 1 & Jill R. Stewart 2
# The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Purpose of Review Fecal contamination of water is a major public health concern. This review summarizes recent developments and advancements in water quality indicators of fecal contamination. Recent Findings This review highlights a number of trends. First, fecal indicators continue to be a valuable tool to assess water quality and have expanded to include indicators able to detect sources of fecal contamination in water. Second, molecular methods, particularly PCR-based methods, have advanced considerably in their selected targets and rigor, but have added complexity that may prohibit adoption for routine monitoring activities at this time. Third, risk modeling is beginning to better connect indicators and human health risks, with the accuracy of assessments currently tied to the timing and conditions where risk is measured. Summary Research has advanced although challenges remain for the effective use of both traditional and alternative fecal indicators for risk characterization, source attribution and apportionment, and impact evaluation. Keywords Escherichia coli . Environmental antimicrobial resistance . Fecal indicator bacteria . Microbial source tracking . qPCR . Water quality
Introduction Fecal contamination of water continues to be a major public health concern, with new challenges necessitating a renewed urgency in developing rapid and reliable methods to detect contamination and prevent human exposures. Aging sewer infrastructure in the USA and elsewhere will require rapid methods to assess fecal contamination of water [1, 2•, 3]. The number of extreme weather events including flooding events is forecast to increase with climate change and has been associated with contamination of water resources [4–6]. Also, the increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance is making it all This article is part of the Topical Collection on Water and Health * Jill R. Stewart [email protected] 1
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 135 Dauer Dr., Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7435, USA
2
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 135 Dauer Dr., Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7431, USA
the more important to lower the rates of infections across the globe, especially infections that require antibiotic treatment, and to identify environments contaminated with antibioticresistant pathogens [7–9]. Fecal indicator bacteria have been used for over 150 years to indicate fecal contamination of water and associated health risks (Table 1). The latter half of the nineteenth century saw the discovery of waterborne disease transmission, perhaps most famously in the analysis of drinking water systems by John Snow during the 1854 London cholera outbreak and the isola
Data Loading...
