Mihai Nita-Lazar
National Research and Development Institute for Industrial Ecology-ECOIND, Bucharest,ROMANIA
Title: Detection of waterborne pathogenic bacteria using immunofluorescence technique
Biography
Biography: Mihai Nita-Lazar
Abstract
The waterborne pathogenic bacteria, especially the enteric bacteria of human fecal origin have become currently a global public health issue. The detection and quantification of drinking water microorganisms are an essential part of any quality control or water safety management plan interconnected to enteric bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Fibrio cholerae or to nonfecal bacterial pathogens such as Legionella spp. The standard methods of detecting waterborne pathogenic bacteria are time-consuming due to the growing step in a specific culture media, followed by isolation, microbiological and/or serological identification and in some cases followed by subspecific characterization.
This study aimed to develop a faster, powerful, more sensitive and reproducible diagnostic tool to monitor a specific pathogen contamination in drinking water by specific antibody-antigen interactions. Three pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Legionella sp. were detected by immunofluoresce technique with fluorochome tagged antibodies. Our results showed a good specificity of the antibodies in a very complex bacterial mixt as well as a starting detection level from 1 bacteria / ml.
Overall, these technique proved to be a reliable one, time-effective and sensitive for diagnosis and prevention of drinking water quality and waterborne bacterial disease.