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Review
. 2023 May 3;20(9):5710.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20095710.

Strategies for Monitoring Microbial Life in Beach Sand for Protection of Public Health

João Brandão  1   2 , Elisabete Valério  1   2 , Chelsea Weiskerger  3 , Cristina Veríssimo  4 , Konstantina Sarioglou  1 , Monika Novak Babič  5 , Helena M Solo-Gabriele  6 , Raquel Sabino  4 , Maria Teresa Rebelo  2
Affiliations
Review

Strategies for Monitoring Microbial Life in Beach Sand for Protection of Public Health

João Brandão et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The 2021 revised guidelines of the World Health Organization recommend monitoring the quality of sand in addition to water at recreational beaches. This review provides background information about the types of beaches, the characteristics of sand, and the microbiological parameters that should be measured. Analytical approaches are described for quantifying fungi and fecal indicator bacteria from beach sand. The review addresses strategies to assess beach sand quality, monitoring approaches, sand remediation, and the proposed way forward for beach sand monitoring programs. In the proposed way forward, recommendations are provided for acceptable levels of fungi given their distribution in the environment. Additional recommendations include evaluating FIB distributions at beaches globally to assess acceptable ranges of FIB levels, similar to those proposed for fungi.

Keywords: FIB; MST; fungi; monitoring program; recreational water; sand.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Definition of beach sand zones.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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