Staphylococcus aureus—An Additional Parameter of Bathing Water Quality for Crowded Urban Beaches

Topić, Nancy; Cenov, Arijana; Jozić, Slaven; Glad, Marin; Mance, Diana; Lušić, Dražen; Kapetanović, Damir; Mance, Davor; Vukić Lušić, Darija (2021) Staphylococcus aureus—An Additional Parameter of Bathing Water Quality for Crowded Urban Beaches. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18 (10). ISSN 1660-4601

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Abstract

During the last years, the report of the occurrence of waterborne disease symptoms related to non-enteric pathogens has increased, without any record of higher levels of indicator bacteria (Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci). Therefore, the use of current indicators is not always adequate when assessing the overall potential health risk and the inclusion of additional parameters needs to be examined. This paper reports on the incidence and levels of Staphylococcus aureus at 258 locations in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (Croatia) recorded by official bathing water quality monitoring, as well as supplemental monitoring carried out at the two most frequented beaches in the City of Rijeka. The number of bathers was found to be the main factor affecting S. aureus levels (r = 0.321, p < 0.05). The share of S. aureus positive samples from the official monitoring was significantly lower, when compared to the share of samples from supplemental monitoring (2.2% and 36.3%, respectively ; p < 0.01). Besides the number of bathers, one of the main reasons is likely the higher sampling frequency. No correlation was found between S. aureus levels and the indicator bacteria. The results indicate that the determination of S. aureus and increased sampling frequency is recommended for overcrowded beaches.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	bathing water quality ; crowded beaches ; fecal indicator bacteria ; Staphylococcus aureus
Subjects:	NATURAL SCIENCES > Biology
Divisions:	Division for Marine and Enviromental Research
Projects:	Project title Project leader Project code Project type Modeliranje krša s javno-zdravstvenim i socio-ekonomskim implikacijama Mance, Diana uniri-pr-prirod-19-24 VLASTITA-SREDSTVA Prilagodba novoj EU direktivi o kvaliteti vode za kupanje Vukić Lušić, Darija uniri-biomed-18-292 NadSve
Depositing User:	Damir Kapetanović
Date Deposited:	27 May 2021 12:48
URI:	http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/6419
DOI:	10.3390/ijerph18105234

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