Abstract
Limpet (Scutellastra cochlear) serves as seafood recipe and an important member of the aquatic food chain. It is an abundant mollusc in some aquatic environment in South Africa. In this study, we investigated the potential of the molluscs harvested from the Buffalo, Swartkops, and Kowie estuaries in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa to serve as transient or maintenance reservoir of Vibrio species. The mollusc and source water samples were collected monthly from the rivers between December 2016 and November 2017. The reservoir category of the limpet samples recovered was determined by employing the combination of MPN-PCR method and statistical analysis (comparison of mean and proportion tests). The densities of Vibrio spp. in limpet and their source water samples were determined using MPN-PCR methods. Presumptive isolates were recovered by processing the samples with thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts-sucrose agar and where necessary, samples were enriched with alkaline peptone water. The presumptive isolates were identified using PCR methods with emphasis on six Vibrio species of public health importance. Vibrio spp. were detected in all the limpet samples but not in all the water samples. The densities of Vibrio spp. in the limpet samples were more than the densities of Vibrio species in their source water and these were significant at P < 0.05. In like manner, five out of the six key Vibrio pathogens targeted in this study were more prevalent in limpet samples than in source water samples. Based on our findings, we concluded that our method though could be improved on, is efficient for the determination of reservoir types of bacterial-carrying organisms. We also concluded that the limpet found in the estuaries are not just a transient but a maintenance reservoir of Vibrio spp. which could cause vibrio-related infections.
Highlights
The factors responsible for the persistence of cholera and cholera-like infections in the world despite the effort put in place by international public health stakeholders such as The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) have been debated over the years
This study statistically compared the densities of total halophiles and Vibrio species in limpet (Scutellastra cochlear) samples and their source water and the prevalence of the targeted six key Vibrio pathogens in limpet and their source water in an attempt to put forward a method that could be used to confirm if an organism is a transient or a concentrating reservoir of bacteria of interest which in this case is Vibrio spp
The occurrence of halophile in saline water has been well documented in the literature, the uniqueness of the finding of this study lies in the fact that halophile’s density in limpet samples was significantly higher than that observed in the source water samples at the three sampling points (Table 3)
Summary
The factors responsible for the persistence of cholera and cholera-like infections in the world despite the effort put in place by international public health stakeholders such as The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) have been debated over the years. The outbreak of vibrio infections such as cholera is believed to be preceded by environmental bloom and subsequent spilling of the pathogens into human population via vehicles and vectors of infections such as water and aquatic animals [1, 3]. The ability of these pathogens to bloom in the environment could be as a result of the existence of reservoirs which concentrate and shield them against unfavorable conditions. Studies on the isolation of these pathogenic vibrios from molluscs and crustaceans have been reported from different geographical locations of the world.
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