Detection and Occurrence of Indicator Organisms and Pathogens

Area of Science:

• Environmental microbiology
• Water quality assessment
• Molecular biology

Background:

• Waterborne pathogens and indicator organisms pose significant public health risks.
• Accurate detection and source tracking are crucial for effective water management.
• Advances in molecular techniques are transforming microbial analysis in water.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the scientific literature on the occurrence and detection of indicator organisms and pathogens in water published in 2014.
• To provide an overview of emerging methods in microbial source tracking and antibiotic resistance.
• To summarize developments in live/dead cell differentiation and next-generation sequencing for water analysis.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of publications from 2014.
• Categorization of studies into key areas: detection/quantification, microbial source tracking (MST), antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), cell viability, and next-generation sequencing (NGS).
• Synthesis of findings related to genotypic and phenotypic MST methods.

Main Results:

• Significant advancements were observed in the detection and quantification of fecal indicators and waterborne pathogens.
• Genotypic and phenotypic methods for microbial source tracking showed increasing application.
• Research on antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and live/dead cell differentiation methods expanded.
• Next-generation sequencing (NGS) emerged as a powerful tool for comprehensive microbial analysis.

Conclusions:

• The year 2014 saw substantial progress in water microbiology, particularly in detection and source tracking technologies.
• Emerging methods like NGS offer unprecedented insights into microbial communities and water safety.
• Continued research is vital to address challenges in waterborne disease prevention and control.