Recent studies on Escherichia coli have demonstrated sub-lethal injury–sensitivity to oxygen and selective agents prior to irreversible inactivation when kept in water in a brass vessel. The present study was carried out to investigate whether equivalent responses occur in copper vessels using the pathogens Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and Vibrio cholerae. Bacterial suspensions were stored in water in a traditional copper vessel for up to 24 h at 30 °C. Samples were withdrawn and plated on selective and non-selective media, then incubated under (a) aerobic conditions and (b) conditions where reactive oxygen species were neutralized to enumerate injured bacteria. Short-term incubation in water kept in a copper vessel caused a greater decrease in counts for both pathogens on selective media, compared to non-selective media with greater differences between aerobic and reactive oxygen species-neutralized counts using selective media compared to non-selective nutrient agar. These findings have practical implications for the short-term storage of water samples in copper storage vessel as the possibility of bacterial injury is high, hence enumeration under conventional aerobic conditions may not be sufficient to give a count of all viable bacteria.
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Research Article|March 23 2012
Traditional copper water storage vessels and sub-lethal injury of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and Vibrio cholerae
Riti Sharan
Riti Sharan
1Centre for Plant and Water Science, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health, CQUniversity, Brisbane, Australia
E-mail: riti.sharan@gmail.com
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Sanjay Chhibber
Sanjay Chhibber
2Department of Microbiology, Punjab University, Chandigarh, India
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Robert H. Reed
Robert H. Reed
1Centre for Plant and Water Science, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health, CQUniversity, Brisbane, Australia
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J Water Health (2012) 10 (2): 271-277.
Article history
Received:
September 28 2011
Accepted:
February 13 2012
Citation
Riti Sharan, Sanjay Chhibber, Robert H. Reed; Traditional copper water storage vessels and sub-lethal injury of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and Vibrio cholerae. J Water Health 1 June 2012; 10 (2): 271–277. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2012.169
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