Background: A swimming pool is an important leisure facility, but it can harbor injured cells creating potential health hazards. Disinfection of swimming pools can cause bacterial injury, when cells are exposed to a suboptimal concentration of disinfectants. Possible pathogenic bacteria can enter into an injured state, for example, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp, and Enterococcus faecalis. Injured bacteria can retain their pathogenicity and virulence and they may recover causing diseases. Aim: To assess the presence of injured coliforms in swimming pools based on differential plating media. Materials and Methods: This study compared the difference in recovery of coliforms between two differential media, one designed for recovery of injured coliforms (HiCrome ECC selective agar and the other is CHROMagar ECC). A total of 120 samples were collected from 10 semi-public swimming pools with sporadic distribution around Alexandria, Egypt, and included in this study. Five pools were used for swim training, 4 were used for both training and recreational swimming and one was used for children only. Results: The recovery medium (HiCrome ECC selective agar) detected 1.47 and 2.54 times total coliforms and E. coli, respectively, as CHROMagar ECC. The compliance of samples per fresh water swimming pool Egyptian standard in total coliforms and E. coli fell from 54.10% when examined by CHROMagar ECC medium to 35% by HiCrome ECC selective medium. Conclusion: The current findings may not be universal to all swimming pools but may be applicable to ones where the physicochemical properties of their water induce coliform injury. Results suggest that the use of media that detect injured yet viable coliforms will give a more sensitive and representative guidance about the quality of examined water and will assist in the treatment and decontamination of swimming pools.

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Anapalsma and piroplasmid species infecting buffaloes with regard to season, age and sex. To achieve this aim, blood samples from a total of 530 apparently healthy and clinically suspected buffaloes in Qualyubia governorate, Egypt were collected throughout the period from June 2013 to May 2014. The blood samples were smeared, stained with Giemsa and examined by conventional microscope. Moreover, PCR assay was applied to amplify DNA of Babesia and Theileria sp. in 100 microscopically negative buffaloes' blood samples. The microscopic investigation identified the infection in 37.92% of the examined buffaloes. Anaplasma marginale was the most prevalent species (30.94%) followed by Babesia sp. (26.60%) and Theileria annulata (2.08%). The most frequent clinical signs observed during the course of disease, in addition to the effect of seasons, age and sex on the prevalence of infection were presented in the study. PCR assay proved to be the most reliable method for the diagnosis of piroplasmid infections as compared to light microscopy, where it was able to detect Babesia and Theileria sp. DNA in 25% and 12% with 5% mixed in the microscopically negative blood samples of buffaloes respectively. The high prevalence of infection in buffaloes highlights the need for establishment of a consolidated control program to overcome the economic losses caused by these parasites.

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