Detection and risk assessment of diarrheagenic E. coli in recreational beaches of Brazil

Vanessa F V Rodrigues; Irma N G Rivera; Keah-Ying Lim; Sunny C Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.06.007

Detection and risk assessment of diarrheagenic E. coli in recreational beaches of Brazil

Mar Pollut Bull. 2016 Aug 15;109(1):163-170. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.06.007. Epub 2016 Jun 11.

Authors

Vanessa F V Rodrigues¹, Irma N G Rivera², Keah-Ying Lim³, Sunny C Jiang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Biomedical Science Institute, Microbiology Department, University of São Paulo, Estado de São Paulo, SP 05508-000, Brazil; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2175, USA.
² Biomedical Science Institute, Microbiology Department, University of São Paulo, Estado de São Paulo, SP 05508-000, Brazil.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2175, USA.
⁴ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2175, USA. Electronic address: sjiang@uci.edu.

PMID: 27301685
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.06.007

Abstract

Marine beaches are important recreational and economic resources in Brazil, but the beaches' water quality is negatively impacted by the discharge of domestic sewage effluent. The occurrence of diarrheagenic Escherichiacoli among the E. coli isolated from three Brazilian marine beaches was investigated. Multiplex and single step PCR were used to screen 99 E. coli isolates for ten target toxin genes. Six toxin genes, stx1, eae, estp, esth, astA, and bfpA, were identified in 1% to 35% of the isolates. A quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) of human exposure to diarrheagenic E. coli during marine recreation was carried out. The results indicated that the diarrheagenic E. coli risk is well below the U.S. EPA's recommended daily recreational risk benchmark. However, the overall recreational health risk due to all pathogens in the water could be much higher and exceeded the U.S. EPA's benchmark.

Keywords: Brazilian beaches; Diarrheagenic E. coli; Quantitative microbial risk assessment; Recreational health.

MeSH terms

Bathing Beaches*
Brazil
Environmental Exposure / analysis
Escherichia coli / genetics
Escherichia coli / isolation & purification*
Escherichia coli / pathogenicity*
Escherichia coli Proteins / genetics
Fimbriae Proteins / genetics
Humans
Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction
Recreation
Risk Assessment / methods
Sewage
Shiga Toxin 1 / genetics
United States
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Water Microbiology
Water Quality*

Substances

BfpA protein, E coli
Escherichia coli Proteins
Sewage
Shiga Toxin 1
Fimbriae Proteins