Microbial Source Tracking as a Method of Determination of Beach Sand Contamination
| Autor: | Elisabete Valério, Maria Leonor Santos, Pedro Teixeira, Ricardo Matias, João Mendonça, Warish Ahmed, João Brandão |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: |
beach
coastal sand fecal contamination fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) microbial source tracking (MST) Bacteria Portugal Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis Beach Water Pollution Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Ruminants Coastal Sand Bathing Beaches Microbial Source Tracking (MST) Agentes Microbianos e Ambiente Charadriiformes Feces Dogs Sand Animals Bacteroides Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB) Fecal Contamination Water Microbiology Environmental Monitoring |
| Zdroj: | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; Volume 19; Issue 13; Pages: 7934 |
| Popis: | This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Microbiology: Perspectives for Medicine and Public Health. Beach sand may act as a reservoir for numerous microorganisms, including enteric pathogens. Several of these pathogens originate in human or animal feces, which may pose a public health risk. In August 2019, high levels of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) were detected in the sand of the Azorean beach Prainha, Terceira Island, Portugal. Remediation measures were promptly implemented, including sand removal and the spraying of chlorine to restore the sand quality. To determine the source of the fecal contamination, during the first campaign, supratidal sand samples were collected from several sites along the beach, followed by microbial source tracking (MST) analyses of Bacteroides marker genes for five animal species, including humans. Some of the sampling sites revealed the presence of marker genes from dogs, seagulls, and ruminants. Making use of the information on biological sources originating partially from dogs, the municipality enforced restrictive measures for dog-walking at the beach. Subsequent sampling campaigns detected low FIB contamination due to the mitigation and remediation measures that were undertaken. This is the first case study where the MST approach was used to determine the contamination sources in the supratidal sand of a coastal beach. Our results show that MST can be an essential tool to determine sources of fecal contamination in the sand. This study shows the importance of holistic management of beaches that should go beyond water quality monitoring for FIB, putting forth evidence for beach sand monitoring. Financial support came from CESAM (UID/AMB/50017-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007638) and CITAB (UID/AGR/04033/2019), via FCT/MCTES, from national funds (PIDDAC), cofounded by FEDER (PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020) info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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