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Detecting Enteric Pathogens in Low-Risk Drinking Water in Dhaka, Bangladesh: An Assessment of the WHO Water Safety Categories
by Sabera Saima 1ORCID,Jannatul Ferdous 1,2,3,*ORCID,Rebeca Sultana 2,4,5ORCID,Ridwan Bin Rashid 1,Sara Almeida 2,Anowara Begum 1 andPeter Kjær Mackie Jensen 2ORCID
1
Department of Microbiology, University of Dhaka, 1000 Dhaka, Bangladesh
2
Copenhagen Center for Disaster Research, Section for Global Health, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, 1014 Copenhagen, Denmark
3
Department of Life Sciences, School of Environment and Life Sciences, Independent University, 1229 Dhaka, Bangladesh
4
icddr,b, 1212 Dhaka, Bangladesh
5
Institute of Health Economics, University of Dhaka, 1000 Dhaka, Bangladesh
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2023, 8(6), 321; https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed8060321
Received: 13 February 2023 / Revised: 24 May 2023 / Accepted: 3 June 2023 / Published: 14 June 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hygiene-Related Diseases in Developing Countries)
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Abstract
The microbiological quality of water is usually assessed by fecal coliform bacteria, and the presence of E. coli as an indicator of fecal contamination is widely recommended by international guidelines. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of diarrheagenic pathogens, in both public and personal domain water sources and examine the reliance on the WHO drinking water risk assessment guidelines. This study was conducted in a low-income urban community in Dhaka, Bangladesh between September 2014 and October 2015. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the marker and virulence genes of Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella species, and Campylobacter species, and the culture method was employed for the quantitative assessment of E. coli. According to the WHO guidelines, 48% of the public domain source water and 21% of the personal domain point-of-drinking water were classified in the low-risk group, i.e., 0 CFU of E. coli/100 mL. However, when using PCR, we detected pathogens in 39% (14/36) of the point-of-drinking water samples and 65% (74/114) of the public domain water source samples classified in the low-risk group. Our study showed that relying solely on E. coli detection as a measure of water quality may overlook the presence of other pathogens in the drinking water. In addition to the culture-based method, the detection of virulence genes by PCR should also be considered to add more scrutiny to the detection of diverse types of pathogens.
Keywords: drinking water; WHO guidelines; enteric pathogens; E. coli; Bangladesh