Fecal coliform bacteria are indicators of fecal contamination and of the potential presence of pathogens associated with animal excreta, wastewater, sludge. This study examined the distribution of fecal coliform in sand of the playground at educational facilities and parks in Seoul. Fecal coliform were detected from 61 (22.1%) places out of 276 playgrounds. Escherichia (E) coli (75.4%) was found most frequently, followed by Cronobacter (Cro) sakazakii (8.7%), Klebsiella (K) pneumoniae (7.2%) and Actinobacter baumannii (4.3%). We also tested the bacteria for their susceptibility to 16 antibiotics using disk diffusion method. All the isolates were highly susceptible to cefepime, gentamicin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, nalidixic acid and sulfamethoxazole/ trimethoprim, but resistant to apramycin and cephalothin. E. coli and Cro. sakazakii were highly resistant to apramycin (100% and 83.3%), followed by cephalothin (51.9% and 50%) and ampicillin (19.2% and 16.7%). K. pneumoniae was highly resistant to ampicillin and apramycin (100%, respectively) but the remaining antibiotics were susceptible.

Survey of fecal coliform contamination in sands of educational facilities and parks in Seoul

Efforts to evaluate water pollution using indicator microorganisms have been underway for decades, and driven by research on water purity control applications, water quality criteria are growing more and more strict. Furthermore, recent reports indicate that high concentrations of antibiotics are not absorbed, and are present in excrement from animals and humans dosed with unnecessarily high levels of antibiotics. This has emerged as very important issue from the standpoint of being an ecological and health hazard. In this study, water pollution was analyzed through physicochemical and microbiological means, and antibiotic resistance in indicator microorganisms was assessed. In physicochemical analysis, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) evaluation showed that pollution by organisms was highest at the G1 location with a high human population, and the DP location which has many livestock-containing households. The indicator organism levels at the G1 location were: Total Coliforms (1205 colony forming units (CFU)/100 ml), Fecal Coliforms (270 CFU/100 ml), Escherichia coli (253 CFU/100 ml) and Fecal Streptococci (210 CFU/100 ml), while for the DP location levels were: Total Coliforms (1480 CFU/100 ml), Fecal Coliforms (438 CFU/100 ml), E. coli (560 CFU/100 ml), and Fecal Streptococci (348 CFU/100 ml). Levels of fecal indicator microorganisms such as Fecal Coliforms, E. coli and Fecal Streptococci were high at all locations in the fall (the period after the rainy season), and the yearly distribution was similar between these organisms. If the number of livestock-containing households was high, almost all strains of E. coli (as distinct from the other indicator organisms) showed resistance to antibiotics, with the degree of resistance varying between areas. E. coli strains from the OY area in particular, which has a high population density, showed strong resistance to AM10 and Va30. While strong antibiotic resistance was observed overall at the DP and OY locations, no resistance was observed at the EB location.

https://www.koreascience.kr:443/article/JAKO201011949348439.pdf

A Study of Antimicrobial Resistance in Escherichia coli and the Distribution of Indicator Microorganisms in Asan City

Indicator bacteria of fecal pollution were enumerated and compared by various detection methods for influent and final effluent of a sewage treatment plant. Total coliforms were enumerated by four methods including most probable numbers, chromogenic enzyme substrate test, membrane filtration, and plate counts and were about 10 for influent and 10 ~10 CFU/ml for final effluent. Fecal coliforms ranged between 10 and 10 for influent and 10 CFU/ml for effluent by chromogenic enzyme substrate test and membrane filtration. Fecal streptococci counts were 1-log less than fecal coliforms counts, 10 ~10 for influent and 10 CFU/ml for effluent. Total coliforms numbers by plate count both in influent and in effluent showed 1-log higher than by the other three methods. Statistical analysis revealed that numbers of total coliforms by plate count in final effluent had the highest average of correlation (r=0.778, p<0.01) compared with those by the other three methods. In addition, total coliforms numbers by plate count showed most significant correlation (r=0.835, p<0.01) with those by chromogenic test which is well-known as its highest recovery efficiency. These results suggest that the plate count would be the optimum detection method for total coliforms in wastewater treatment plants which are the only microbiological standard of final effluent from wastewater treatment plants in the Republic of Korea, considering economic aspects and difficulties in laboratories.

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Enumeration and Comparison of Fecal Indicator Bacteria in a Sewage Treatment Plant Using Activated Sludge Process

Bacteriological examination of spring water in Jeju City was conducted. A total of 21 spring water samples were collected from January to April, 2010. During the study period, the range of temperature was 0.6 to 15.4℃, and the results of the analyses showed that hydrogen ion concentrations (pH) for spring water were 0.43 to 7.9. Salinity levels for the samples averaged from 3.0 to 1.64%, and levels of water-dissolved oxygen were 1.85 to 6.06 mg/l. The range of total coliforms in spring water samples at 21 stations located in the designated spring water were 1,600 MPN/100 ml. Furthermore, the range of geometric means of total coliforms was 9.9-151.6 MPN/100 ml, while the range of fecal coliforms in spring water samples at 21 stations located in the designated spring water area was 1,600 MPN/100 ml. Finally, the range of geometric mean of fecal coliforms was 3.1-151.6 MPN/100 ml. The level of microbial contamination was examined in 21 samples for indications of bacterial contamination such as heterotrophic bacteria, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Shigella spp. were frequently detected in the spring water. Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and S. aureus were detected in the range of 0-0.5×10 1 , 0-0.1×10 1 , 0-0.1×10 1 , and 0-0.3×10 1 CFU/ml, respectively, while E. coli O157:H7 was not detected in the examined spring water samples.

Microbiological Pollution Investigation of Lowland Spring Water at the Jeju City Waterfront, Jeju Island

Objectives: To estimate the microbial contaminant load discharged from livestock farms, we randomly selected livestock farmers of cattle, swine, and fowl and collected bacterial strains from domestic animals’ feces and compost samples. Recently, as multi-antibiotic-resistant bacteria and super bacteria showing resistance to a variety of antibiotics have been reported one after another, the ecological and health hazard of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is emerging as an important issue. Methods: Monitored indicator microorganism constituents were totak coliform (TC), fecal coliform (FC), and aerobic bacteria. The multi-antibiotic-resistant bacteria were identified from investigated indicator microorganisms by 16S rRNA sequencing. Results: By microbiological analysis, the largest population of aerobic bacteria (1.5×10 5 CFU/g) was found in cattle fecal compost, and total coliforms (1.1×10 7 CFU/g) and fecal coliforms (1.0×10 5 CFU/g) were found primarily in swine fecal compost, while the lowest population was found in fowl fecal compost. Among the 67 strains separated from aerobic bacteria, five strains expressing high antibiotic resistance were selected in each sample. We found the multi-antibiotic resistant strains to be Shigella boydii, Staphylococcus lentus, Acinetobacter sp. and Brevibacterium luteolum. Conclusions: These results suggest that increasing numbers of multi-antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment have a close relation to the reckless use of antibiotics with livestock.

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Joolae Cho

Papers

Comparative Studies on Detecting Methods of Fecal Indicators (Coliforms) in Surface Water