Microbial burden of seawater and beach sand during bathing season
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14720/abs.67.2.19186Keywords:
beach sand, Escherichia coli, fungi, health, indicators, seawater, urban beachAbstract
Slovenia is one of the most water-rich countries in Europe, where water is important not only as drinking water, but also for various recreational activities, especially swimming. Natural marine waters are an important environment where swimmers are exposed to resistant bacteria, and also fungi. In addition to seawater, people also spend a lot of time on sandy beaches, that are currently not microbiologically monitored. To determine the microbiological burden of seawater and beach sand during the bathing season, we analyzed the presence of bacteria Escherichia coli and opportunistic pathogenic fungi transmitted by humans. E. coli was present in seawater only within the permissible limits throughout the bathing season, with the highest incidence in August. Beside environmental strains, strains of the B2 phylogenetic group, strains with increased adhesion and iron uptake systems, and strains with genes for resistance to antibiotics from the fluoroquinolone and beta-lactam groups were also detected. With the method used, we were unable to isolate any fungi in the water during the bathing season. In contrary, we found human-transmitted fungal species Candida parapsilosis, Geotrichum candidum and Trichosporon asahii in the beach sand. The number of E. coli in the seawater and fungi in the sand increased with the number of bathers, both reaching a peak in the August sample. According to the results, E. coli is a suitable parameter for monitoring seawater quality, while certain types of human-related fungi could be used as an additional parameter for monitoring beach sand quality.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Jerneja Čremožnik Zupančič, Monika Novak Babič
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Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS
Grant numbers Z7-2668 -
Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS
Grant numbers P1-0198
