Survival of Burkholderia pseudomallei and Pathogenic Leptospira in Cola, Beer, Energy Drinks, and Sports Drinks.

Vanaporn Wuthiekanun,Premjit Amornchai,Nicholas P J Day,Direk Limmathurotsakul,Sayan Langla,Nicholas J White

doi:10.4269/ajtmh.19-0948

Abstract

.Burkholderia pseudomallei and pathogenic Leptospira in contaminated drinking water can cause melioidosis and leptospirosis, respectively. Here, we evaluated their survival in beverages. We mixed six isolates (three isolates per organism) in four beverages (Coca-Cola®, Red Bull®, Singha® beer, and Gatorade®) and distilled water as the control at two final concentrations (1 × 107 colony-forming units [CFU]/mL and 1 × 103 CFU/mL). The solution was kept at two temperatures (37°C and 4°C). At 4°C and at the high concentration, pathogenic Leptospira survived in Coca-Cola® up to 3 minutes and in Singha, Red Bull®, and Gatorade up to 15 minutes, whereas B. pseudomallei survived in these beverages up to 8 hours, and 14, 14, and 28 days, respectively. The survival time of both organisms was shorter at 37°C (P = 0.01) and at the lower concentration (P = 0.001). In conclusion, Leptospira can survive in some beverages for up to 15 minutes, whereas B. pseudomallei can survive in some beverages for up to 4 weeks.

Highlights

Pathogenic Leptospira spp. is a spirochete bacterium and the causative organism of leptospirosis, which kills an estimated 58,900 people per year worldwide.[5]
If containers of drinks have holes or tears, drinks are contaminated with soil or rat urine, and the organisms can survive for a long period of time, consuming contaminated drinks could lead to infection
Isolates used in our study included one environmental B. pseudomallei isolate (E8),[10] two clinical B. pseudomallei isolates (NR-9910 and NR-8071), and three pathogenic Leptospira isolates (L. interrogans serovar Autumnalis [NR-20161], L. kirschnerii serovar Grippotyphosa [NR-20327], and L. interrogans serovar Pyrogenes [NR-20157]).[11,12]

Summary

Introduction

Pathogenic Leptospira spp. is a spirochete bacterium and the causative organism of leptospirosis, which kills an estimated 58,900 people per year worldwide.[5]. We evaluated survival of B. pseudomallei and Leptospira spp. in four beverages at 4°C and 37°C.

Results

Conclusion