Assessing the sources of high fecal coliform levels at an urban tropical beach

Recreational water quality is commonly assessed by microbial indicators such as fecal coliforms. Maceió is the capital of Alagoas state, located in tropical northeastern Brazil. Its beaches are considered as the most beautiful urban beaches in the country. Jatiúca Beach in Maceió was found to be unsuitable for bathing continuously during the year of 2011. The same level of contamination was not observed in surrounding beaches. The aim of this study was to initiate the search for the sources of these high coliform levels, so that contamination can be eventually mitigated. We performed a retrospective analysis of historical results of fecal coliform concentrations from 2006 to 2012 at five monitoring stations located in the study region. Results showed that Jatiúca Beach consistently presented the worst quality among the studied beaches. A field survey was conducted to identify existing point and non-point sources of pollution in the area. Monitoring in the vicinity of Jatiúca was spatially intensified. Fecal coliform concentrations were categorized according to tide range and tide stage. A storm drain located in northern Jatiúca was identified as the main point source of the contamination. However, fecal coliform concentrations at Jatiúca were high during high tides and spring tides even when this point source was inactive (no rainfall). We hypothesize that high fecal coliform levels in Jatiúca Beach may also be caused by aquifer contamination or, more likely, from tide washing of contaminated sand. Both of these hypotheses will be further investigated.

[Isolation and serotyping of endemic leptospires of eastern part of flat area of Guilan province, Iran]

Leptospirosis is a zoonosis that is more common in tropical and semitropical regions and is endemic in Guilan province. In endemic region, only a limited number of pathogenic serovars are common, characterization of them is very important step in detecting the main reservoir [s] of the disease. This study was performed to isolate leptospires from rice farms, irrigation canals and rivers of eastern part of flat area of Guilan province to detect main endemic serotypes of leptospirosis. In this descriptive and cross - sectional study samples were taken from 8 cities of the area of Guilan province, Noth of Iran between May to September of 2007. Two ml of any processed water sample was inoculated in liquid EMJH medium with 200 micro g/ml 5-flurouracil after filtration, were incubated in 30°C for 3 monthes, and were checked by darkfiel microscopy every two weeks. All positive samples were serotyped by using 30 type antisera which were main representative of serogroups. 47 of 320 specimens were positive and 273 samples were negative. One saprophytic specie [Biflexa] including two serogroups [Andamana, and Semaranga] and three pathogenic species [Interrogans, Kireshnerii, and Boirgpetersenii] including 6 serogroups were detected Icterohaemorrhagiae, Pomona, and canicola of interrogans, Hardjobovis and Sejroea of Borgpeterseni pecie, Grippotyphosa of KircshnerL Non-pathogenic serogroups were found from surface water, but the pathogenic serogroup were detected only from rice farm water. The high incidence of leptospirosis in rual area concide with seasonal rice cultivation, which can be due to trafic of domestic animal in rice farms and elevation temprature, and activity of rice farm water with subsequent presence of pathogenic type and serotypes in rice farm

Detection of hepatitis E virus in greater Cairo two wastewater treatment plants and its prevalence among workers of these plants

Because of inadequate public sanitation, epidemics of HEV infection have been reported in several developing countries. HEV-specific cDNA was prepared by reverse transcription of the total RNA extracted from water samples. Specified DNA amplification by PCR demonstrates the presence of HEV in sewage samples from the inlets [PCR positive 10/36:27.77%], while outlet samples were PCR negative. HEV IgM was detected in 40 workers out of 78 in these two studied plants [age 20-60 years], with a percentage of 51.25% and HAV IgM was also detected in 3 workers out of 78 [3.84%]. The study of serum ALT and albumin level go with the increase in HEV IgM in sera. This study which was carried out in two different wastewater treatment plants showed that HEV contamination was higher in one of them [El-Berka] than El-Zenin. A total of 33.33% of influent water samples were positive and 55.25% of workers were HEV IgM positive in the first plant [E1-Berka] and the corresponding figure in the other plant [El-Zenin] showed lower contamination, 22.22% in influent water sample and 40.9% of workers