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      Microbial Contamination of Drinking Water and Human Health from Community Water Systems

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          Abstract

          A relatively short list of reference viral, bacterial and protozoan pathogens appears adequate to assess microbial risks and inform a system-based management of drinking waters. Nonetheless, there are data gaps, e.g. human enteric viruses resulting in endemic infection levels if poorly performing disinfection and/or distribution systems are used, and the risks from fungi. Where disinfection is the only treatment and/or filtration is poor, cryptosporidiosis is the most likely enteric disease to be identified during waterborne outbreaks, but generally non-human-infectious genotypes are present in the absence of human or calf fecal contamination. Enteric bacteria may dominate risks during major fecal contamination events that are ineffectively managed. Reliance on culture-based methods exaggerates treatment efficacy and reduces our ability to identify pathogens/indicators; however, next-generation sequencing and polymerase chain reaction approaches are on the cusp of changing that. Overall, water-based Legionella and non-tuberculous mycobacteria probably dominate health burden at exposure points following the various societal uses of drinking water.

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          Most cited references60

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          Persister cells, dormancy and infectious disease.

          Kim Lewis (2007)
          Several well-recognized puzzles in microbiology have remained unsolved for decades. These include latent bacterial infections, unculturable microorganisms, persister cells and biofilm multidrug tolerance. Accumulating evidence suggests that these seemingly disparate phenomena result from the ability of bacteria to enter into a dormant (non-dividing) state. The molecular mechanisms that underlie the formation of dormant persister cells are now being unravelled and are the focus of this Review.
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            Is Open Access

            Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality

            (2011)
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              Is Open Access

              The importance of the viable but non-culturable state in human bacterial pathogens

              Many bacterial species have been found to exist in a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state since its discovery in 1982. VBNC cells are characterized by a loss of culturability on routine agar, which impairs their detection by conventional plate count techniques. This leads to an underestimation of total viable cells in environmental or clinical samples, and thus poses a risk to public health. In this review, we present recent findings on the VBNC state of human bacterial pathogens. The characteristics of VBNC cells, including the similarities and differences to viable, culturable cells and dead cells, and different detection methods are discussed. Exposure to various stresses can induce the VBNC state, and VBNC cells may be resuscitated back to culturable cells under suitable stimuli. The conditions that trigger the induction of the VBNC state and resuscitation from it are summarized and the mechanisms underlying these two processes are discussed. Last but not least, the significance of VBNC cells and their potential influence on human health are also reviewed.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                +1 780 492 5227 , ashbolt@ualberta.ca
                Journal
                Curr Environ Health Rep
                Curr Environ Health Rep
                Current Environmental Health Reports
                Springer International Publishing (Cham )
                2196-5412
                27 January 2015
                27 January 2015
                2015
                : 2
                : 1
                : 95-106
                Affiliations
                School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Room 3-57D, South Academic Building, Alberta, T6G 2G7 Canada
                Article
                37
                10.1007/s40572-014-0037-5
                4372141
                25821716
                430a0077-c46a-4481-9d94-7deba457eb41
                © The Author(s) 2015

                Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.

                History
                Categories
                Water and Health (T Wade, Section Editor)
                Custom metadata
                © Springer International Publishing AG 2015

                water safety plans,haccp,qmra,surrogate,indicator,antimicrobial resistance,enteric pathogen,opportunistic pathogen,viruses,bacteria,parasitic protozoa,fungi,waterborne,water-based,risk management

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