Endotoxin, a novel biomarker for the rapid risk assessment of faecal contamination of coastal and transitional waters

Christian R. Good, Alistair White, Joao Brandao, Simon Jackson*

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Current methods for testing water for faecal contamination rely on the culture of faecal indicator bacteria (FIB; Escherichia coli and Enterococci) that take 24–48 h, which leads to delays in taking proactive measures and poses a risk to public health. More rapid methods are therefore required. Here, we have tested a rapid, portable assay (Bacterisk) that detects the bacterial biomarker endotoxin in 30 min to quantify the bacterial biomass present, to evaluate 159 coastal water samples and to compare the results with the traditional culture of FIB. There was a significant correlation between the Bacterisk data given in endotoxin risk (ER) units and FIB culture that could accurately distinguish between poor and sufficient or good quality bathing water using the EU bathing directive values. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to determine the optimal ER threshold for coastal water samples, and the area under the curve was 0.9176 with a p-value of,0.0001. The optimal threshold was 7,300 ER units with a sensitivity of 95.45% and a specificity of 83.48%. In conclusion, we have shown that the Bacterisk assay provides a rapid and easy-to-use in situ method to assess bathing water quality.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1044-1052
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Water and Health
Volume22
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Water Science and Technology
  • Waste Management and Disposal
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Microbiology (medical)
  • Infectious Diseases

Keywords

  • Bacterisk
  • bathing water quality
  • endotoxin
  • faecal indicator bacteria
  • public health
  • rapid method
  • Environmental Monitoring/methods
  • Risk Assessment
  • Biomarkers/analysis
  • Escherichia coli/isolation & purification
  • Water Quality
  • Endotoxins/analysis
  • Feces/microbiology
  • Seawater/microbiology
  • Water Microbiology
  • Bathing Beaches/standards

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