Multi-Drug Resistant Coliform: Water Sanitary Standards and Health Hazards.

Meerambika Mishra,Dhananjay Yadav,Amiya K Patel,Ananta P Arukha,Niranjan Behera,Tapan K Mohanta

doi:10.3389/fphar.2018.00311

Abstract

Water constitutes and sustains life; however, its pollution afflicts its necessity, further worsening its scarcity. Coliform is one of the largest groups of bacteria evident in fecally polluted water, a major public health concern. Coliform thrive as commensals in the gut of warm-blooded animals, and are indefinitely passed through their feces into the environment. They are also called as model organisms as their presence is indicative of the prevalence of other potential pathogens, thus coliform are and unanimously employed as adept indicators of fecal pollution. As only a limited accessible source of fresh water is available on the planet, its contamination severely affects its usability. Coliform densities vary geographically and seasonally which leads to the lack of universally uniform regulatory guidelines regarding water potability often leads to ineffective detection of these model organisms and the misinterpretation of water quality status. Remedial measures such as disinfection, reducing the nutrient concentration or re-population doesn’t hold context in huge lotic ecosystems such as freshwater rivers. There is also an escalating concern regarding the prevalence of multi-drug resistance in coliforms which renders antibiotic therapy incompetent. Antimicrobials are increasingly used in household, clinical, veterinary, animal husbandry and agricultural settings. Sub-optimal concentrations of these antimicrobials are unintentionally but regularly dispensed into the environment through seepages, sewages or runoffs from clinical or agricultural settings substantially adding to the ever-increasing pool of antibiotic resistance genes. When present below their minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), these antimicrobials trigger the transfer of antibiotic-resistant genes that the coliform readily assimilate and further propagate to pathogens, the severity of which is evidenced by the high Multiple Antibiotic Resistance (MAR) index shown by the bacterial isolates procured from the environmental. This review attempts to assiduously anthologize the use of coliforms as water quality standards, their existent methods of detection and the issue of arising multi-drug resistance in them.

Highlights

Water, the elixir of life is indispensable in every facet of existence
Water polluted by influx of sewage especially from hospitals, public defecation, slaughter houses, clinics, and animal husbandry contains huge amount of antibiotic resistant bacteria which can be transferred to humans or livestock (Ahmed et al, 2010; Crimmins and Beltrán-Sánchez, 2011; Carlet et al, 2012)
The group of coliform bacteria from the family Enterobacteriaceae was chosen as water potability indicators as they inherently populate the gut of warm blooded mammals; end up in their feces and indicate the presence of other pathogens. (Berg and Metcalf, 1978; Mishra et al, 2012; Mishra et al, 2013)

Summary

Introduction

Apart from quotidian uses, water is important in many industries for the production of chemicals, cosmetics, and beverages (Lamikanra, 1999; Mishra et al, 2012). The importance of rivers, the major source of freshwater, is well evidenced by the historic fact that major civilizations were settled along the banks of a river. (Berg and Metcalf, 1978; Mishra et al, 2012; Mishra et al, 2013). These bacteria are very receptive to drug resistance genes and readily propagate it to the other pathogens prevalent in the vicinity, pose as potent health hazards. Regular monitoring of coliform levels in the environment provides insight into the status of water potability, warns prior incidence of various public health concerns and paves way for designing remedial measures

Methods

Findings

Conclusion