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Health Research, Vol. 2, Issue 1, Mar  2018, Pages 16-23; DOI: 10.31058/j.hr.2018.21002 10.31058/j.hr.2018.21002

Investigation of Microbiological Quality of Water from the Feed Source to the Terminal Application in the Healthcare Facility: A Case Study

Health Research, Vol. 2, Issue 1, Mar  2018, Pages 16-23.

DOI: 10.31058/j.hr.2018.21002

Mostafa Essam Eissa 1*

1 Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

Received: 10 May 2018; Accepted: 25 May 2018; Published: 1 June 2018

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Abstract

Water treatment and distribution systems are highly dynamic and versatile in terms of microbial populations. Rigorous control, maintenance and monitoring schemes should be followed to ensure delivery of water with high microbiological standards of safety from the feed sources to the final consumption points. Otherwise, consequences will be devastating to human health and possibly life itself. The current study aimed to investigate the microbiological quality in healthcare facility in urban districts region in African country using standard pharmacopeia microbiological techniques. A random samples of water from different points from feed chlorinated municipal water, water treatment plants, point-of-use and final purified water in a product with a total number of samples reaching 105 bottles of water. Isolation of microorganisms was performed using Nutrient Agar (NA), MacConkey Agar (MAC), Tryptic Soya Agar (TSA) and Muller Hinton Agar (MHA). Microbial identification of the isolates was performed biochemically. Microorganisms from seven samples were not recovered from recovery media. Two isolates from 27 specimens could not be identified using biochemical techniques and require identification using molecular methods. Eight of the final consumable products showed signs of microbial contamination with one of them could not be identified biochemically. One of the products was contaminated with two different bacteria: Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus vitulinus. Three more samples were contaminated with E. coli while S. aureus was found in one sample. Two samples were found contaminated with Pentoea spp. water stations were found to be contaminated with E. coli and S. lentus in tanks. While the reverse osmosis (RO) units were found to be contaminated with Pseudomonas luteola, Enterococcus columbae, Streptococcus uberis, E. coli and S. lentus. Water from municipal sources showed the presence of Pseudomonas luteola, Serratia ficaria, Pentoea spp, E. coli, S. aureus and S. vitulinus. The study indicated that water system control and monitoring require crucial improvements.

Keywords

NA, MAC, TSA, MHA, API, VITEK2, Escherichia Coli, Staphylococcus Vitulinus, Serratia Ficaria, Pentoea Spp

Copyright

© 2017 by the authors. Licensee International Technology and Science Press Limited. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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