Survival trends of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Clostridium perfringens in a sandy South Florida beach

Microbes in beach sands: integrating environment, ecology and public health

“…Bolton et al (1999) found it surprising that Campylobacter could be detected in as much as 50% of dry sand samples from a beach in England, despite other claims that this pathogen is sensitive to environmental conditions such as low moisture. Mohammad et al (2012) found that optimal survival of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa occurred via attachment to intermediate-sized sand particles (850 μm to 2 mm) at a Florida marine beach. They suggested this size range of sand particles could be preferable for formation of micro-niches and should be considered in beach management decisions related to sand replacement, beach nourishment or beach classification schemes.…”

“…They found P. aeruginosa concentrations as high as 900 CFU/100 g sand and considered the widespread occurrence of this microorganism as alarming. Mohammed et al (2012) suggested P. aeruginosa might be useful to assess sanitary conditions of beach sand in the absence of ideal indicators of non-enteric health risks.…”

“…Shah et al (2011) indicated that some indicator bacteria might be useful for predicting the occurrence of this pathogen in subtropical beach sand. Mohammed et al (2012) demonstrated that S. aureus could proliferate in sterile sand microcosms, but not unsterile beach sand, and suggested that S. aureus might be useful in assessing the sanitary conditions of beach sand in the absence of ideal indicators of non-enteric health risks.…”

Faecal Indicator Bacteria and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Marine Coastal Waters: Is there a Relationship?

“…These indicators were based on conclusions from epidemiological studies that implicate the enteric bacteria E. coli and enterococci in cases of gastroenteritis associated with swimming. However, the majority of recently reported cases of infectious diseases linked with coastal bathing waters are of nonenteric origin [12], creating a requirement for nonenteric indicator organisms that must be additionally evaluated. Opportunistic bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa [13], might better serve to indicate the occurrence of some of the nonfaecal pathogens [12], especially in bathing waters [14].…”

“…However, the majority of recently reported cases of infectious diseases linked with coastal bathing waters are of nonenteric origin [12], creating a requirement for nonenteric indicator organisms that must be additionally evaluated. Opportunistic bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa [13], might better serve to indicate the occurrence of some of the nonfaecal pathogens [12], especially in bathing waters [14]. Taking into account the results found in a study from Mariño and coworkers, where a positive correlation was found between skin infections and the presence of P. aeruginosa in seawater [14], this opportunistic bacteria [13] might better serve to indicate the occurrence of some nonfaecal pathogens in bathing waters [12].Being rod-shaped, gram-negative, facultative aerobic bacterium, P. aeruginosa has minimal survival requirements [15,16] and a remarkable adaptation ability towards a variety of environmental conditions, being able to thrive in soil, water, animal hosts, hospital settings, soap, and even distilled water [17][18][19][20].…”