Pore water transport of enterococci out of beach sediments

Phillips, Matthew C.; Solo‐Gabriele, Helena M.; Reniers, A.J.H.M.; Wang, John D.; Kiger, Russell T.; Abdel-Mottaleb, Noha

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.08.049

Cited by 40 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Harmful bacteria resident in beach sediments can be resuspended in surrounding waters as a result of agitation from recreational activity or storms during the summer season (Abdallah et al, 2005). Release of enterococci from beach sands following a significant rainstorm has been reported (Phillips et al, 2011a). Moreover, such rain events resulted in a number of preemptive beach closures due to FIB, representing 21% of the closures at US beaches in 2009 (Dorfman and Rosselot, 2010).…”

Section: Bacteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Routine screening of harmful microorganisms in beach sands: Implications to public health

Sabino

Rodrigues

Costa

et al. 2014

Science of The Total Environment

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Beaches worldwide provide recreational opportunities to hundreds of millions of people and serve as important components of coastal economies. Beach water is often monitored for microbiological quality to detect the presence of indicators of human sewage contamination so as to prevent public health outbreaks associated with water contact. However, growing evidence suggests that beach sand can harbor microbes harmful to human health, often in concentrations greater than the beach water. Currently, there are no standards for monitoring, sampling, analyzing, or managing beach sand quality. In addition to indicator microbes, growing evidence has identified pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and fungi in a variety of beach sands worldwide. The public health threat associated with these populations through direct and indirect contact is unknown because so little research has been conducted relating to health outcomes associated with sand quality. In this manuscript, we present the consensus findings of a workshop of experts convened in Lisbon, Portugal to discuss the current state of knowledge on beach sand microbiological quality and to develop suggestions for standardizing the evaluation of sand at coastal beaches. The expert group at the "Microareias 2012" workshop recommends that 1) beach sand should be screened for a variety of pathogens harmful to human health, and sand monitoring should then be initiated alongside regular water monitoring; 2) sampling and analysis protocols should be standardized to allow proper comparisons among beach locations; and 3) further studies are needed to estimate human health risk with exposure to contaminated beach sand. Much of the manuscript is focused on research specific to Portugal, but similar results have been found elsewhere, and the findings have worldwide implications.

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Section: Bacteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Routine screening of harmful microorganisms in beach sands: Implications to public health

Sabino

Rodrigues

Costa

et al. 2014

Science of The Total Environment

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“…While the methodology used in this study to recover enterococci from sand by shaking has been well applied in other studies (44,58,61,70,71), we acknowledge that tightly bound biofilm enterococcal cells could remain attached to sand grains and that the measured fraction in this study incorporates only those cells dislodgeable by shaking. However, Phillips et al (58) compared the dislodgeable fractions of enterococci from beach sand between pore water flow and the vigorous-shaking method used in this work.…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Phillips et al (58) compared the dislodgeable fractions of enterococci from beach sand between pore water flow and the vigorous-shaking method used in this work. The result was that a 9-fold increase of enterococci was removed through vigorous shaking compared to pore water flow.…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between Enterococcal Levels and Sediment Biofilms at Recreational Beaches in South Florida

Piggot

Klaus

Johnson

et al. 2012

Appl Environ Microbiol

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ABSTRACTEnterococci, recommended at the U.S. federal level for monitoring water quality at marine recreational beaches, have been found to reside and grow within beach sands. However, the environmental and ecological factors affecting enterococcal persistence remain poorly understood, making it difficult to determine levels of fecal pollution and assess human health risks. Here we document the presence of enterococci associated with beach sediment biofilms at eight south Florida recreational beaches. Enterococcal levels were highest in supratidal sands, where they displayed a nonlinear, unimodal relationship with extracellular polymeric secretions (EPS), the primary component of biofilms. Enterococcal levels peaked at intermediate levels of EPS, suggesting that biofilms may promote the survival of enterococci but also inhibit enterococci as the biofilm develops within beach sands. Analysis of bacterial community profiles determined by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms showed the bacterial communities of supratidal sediments to be significantly different from intertidal and subtidal communities; however, no differences were observed in bacterial community compositions associated with different EPS concentrations. Our results suggest that supratidal sands are a microbiologically unique environment favorable for the incorporation and persistence of enterococci within beach sediment biofilms.

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“…Due to their ubiquitous nature in warm-blooded animals (7)(8)(9), fecal indicators can only indicate that fecal contamination may be present; however, certain host sources are more likely than others to carry human pathogens (10). Additionally, E. coli, the most commonly used indicator in freshwater systems, has been found to survive in the environment (11)(12)(13)(14). Environmental persistence of fecal indicator bacteria undermines the utility for recreational water quality monitoring because the presence of these organisms would not necessarily indicate a recent contamination event, and in some cases, it can lead to an overestimation of the associated public health risk.…”

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confidence: 99%

Distribution and Differential Survival of Traditional and Alternative Indicators of Fecal Pollution at Freshwater Beaches

Cloutier

McLellan

2017

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Alternative indicators have been developed that can be used to identify host sources of fecal pollution, yet little is known about how their distribution and fate compare to traditional indicators. Escherichia coli and enterococci were widely distributed at the six beaches studied and were detected in almost 95% of water samples (n ϭ 422) and 100% of sand samples (n ϭ 400). Berm sand contained the largest amount of E. coli (P Ͻ 0.01), whereas levels of enterococci were highest in the backshore (P Ͻ 0.01). E. coli and enterococci were the lowest in water, using a weight-to-volume comparison. The gull-associated Catellicoccus marimammalium (Gull2) marker was found in over 80% of water samples, regardless of E. coli levels, and in 25% of sand samples. Human-associated Bacteroides (HB) and Lachnospiraceae (Lachno2) were detected in only 2.4% of water samples collected under baseflow and post-rain conditions but produced a robust signal after a combined sewage overflow, despite low E. coli concentrations. Burdens of E. coli and enterococci in water and sand were disproportionately high in relation to alternative indicators when comparing environmental samples to source material. In microcosm studies, Gull2, HB, and Lachno2 quantitative PCR (qPCR) signals were reduced twice as quickly as those from E. coli and enterococci and approximately 20% faster than signals from culturable E. coli. High concentrations of alternative indicators in source material illustrated their high sensitivity for the identification of fecal sources; however, differential survival and the potential for long-term persistence of traditional fecal indicators complicate the use of alternative indicator data to account for the levels of E. coli and enterococci in environmental samples. IMPORTANCE E. coli and enterococci are general indicators of fecal pollution and may persist in beach sand, making their use problematic for many applications. This study demonstrates that gull fecal pollution is widespread at Great Lakes beaches, whereas human and ruminant contamination is evident only after major rain events. An exploration of sand as a reservoir for indicators found that E. coli was ubiquitous, while gull host markers were detected in only 25% of samples. In situ sand beach microcosms provided decay rate constants for E. coli and enterococci relative to alternative indicators, which establish comparative benchmarks that would be helpful to distinguish recent from past pollution. Overall, alternative indicators are useful for identifying sources and assessing potentially high health risk contamination events; however, beach managers should be cautious in attempting to directly link their detection to the levels of E. coli or enterococci.KEYWORDS beaches, water quality, human-associated indicators, gull-associated indicators, qPCR F ecal contamination of recreational waters can be a serious threat to public health. Due to the vast diversity of fecal-borne human pathogens, the USEPA has recommended the use of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB),...

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Pore water transport of enterococci out of beach sediments

Cited by 40 publications

References 30 publications

Routine screening of harmful microorganisms in beach sands: Implications to public health

Routine screening of harmful microorganisms in beach sands: Implications to public health

Relationship between Enterococcal Levels and Sediment Biofilms at Recreational Beaches in South Florida

Distribution and Differential Survival of Traditional and Alternative Indicators of Fecal Pollution at Freshwater Beaches

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