Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Nov 7:13:1178630219887393.
doi: 10.1177/1178630219887393. eCollection 2019.

Assessment of Microbiological Content of Private and Public Recreational Water Facilities and Their Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern in Al-Ahsa

Fatimah Hejji AlTuraifi  1 , Ali A AlMomatin  1 , Lorina Badger-Emeka  2 , Promise Madu Emeka  3 , Mohammed Monirul Islam  4
Affiliations

Assessment of Microbiological Content of Private and Public Recreational Water Facilities and Their Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern in Al-Ahsa

Fatimah Hejji AlTuraifi et al. Environ Health Insights. .

Abstract

Background: Water recreational facilities like swimming pools attract people of all ages. However, these facilities are very suitable for the transmission of various microbial diseases and have been shown to pose public health concerns.

Aims: This study assesses the presence of different Gram-negative bacteria pathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern in both private and public pools in Al-Ahsa.

Methods: 11 private and 3 public recreational water facilities were sampled for the study. Collected water samples were inoculated into nutrient broth and incubated aerobically for 24 hours. The overnight growth was plated out on blood and MacConkey agars. Pure cultures of the bacteria samples were used for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility test using the Vitek 2 compactautomated system (BioMerieux, Marcy L'Etoile, France). Minimum inhibitory concentration was also provided by the Vitek 2 compact automated system.

Results: 13 different Gram-negative bacteria species isolates were encountered in both pool types sampled. More of potential pathogens were isolated from the private than the public pools, of which Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa constituted 50% and 43%, respectively, of all the isolates. Findings also revealed a varied minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) indicating that the isolates were of different strains. Antibiotic susceptibility pattern also showed variability among the isolates.

Conclusions: This study has revealed a potential health risk associated with the use of water recreational facilities. The presence of K pneumoniae and P aeruginosa suggests a public health concern and should be looked into.

Keywords: Public; contamination; microbial; private swimming pools.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Frequency distribution of encountered bacteria isolates from public and private water recreation pools.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Showing percentage antimicrobial resistance against the tested antibiotics.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Comparison of percentage resistance by Gram-negative isolates against antibiotics of choice in treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO. Microbiological hazards. In: Guidelines for safe recreational-water environments final draft for consultation: swimming pools, spas and similar recreational-water environments. Vol. 2. https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/bathing/recreaII-ch3.pdf?ua=1. Updated August, 2000.
    1. Dumani A, Yoldas O, Yilmaz S, et al.. Polymerase chain reaction of Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans in apical periodontitis from Turkish patients. J Clin Exp Dent. 2012;4:e34. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schets FM, Schijven JF, de Roda Husman AM. Exposure assessment for swimmers in bathing waters and swimming pools. Water Res. 2011;45:2392-2400. - PubMed
    1. Rabi A, Khader Y, Alkafajei A, Aqoulah AA. Sanitary conditions of public swimming pools in Amman, Jordan. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2007;4:301-306. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saberianpour S, Momtaz H, Ghanbari F, Mahmodi F. Assessment of bacterial and fungal contamination in public swimming pools in Shahrekord—IRAN. J Trop Dis. 2015;4:190.

LinkOut - more resources