What is it about?
The article details a case study that investigated the microbiological quality of water in an African healthcare facility, analyzing 105 samples from the chlorinated municipal feed source, through the treatment plants (including Reverse Osmosis units), to the final point-of-use and bottled products. Using standard pharmacopeia and biochemical identification techniques, the study confirmed contamination at various stages, with eight final consumable products showing microbial contamination, including the presence of high-risk pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus vitulinus.
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Why is it important?
Rigorous control of water quality is pivotal in healthcare due to the devastating threat contamination poses to patient health and life , and this study is crucial because it indicates that the current water system control and monitoring in this facility require crucial improvements. The finding that the water treatment barriers can be surpassed by creeping microbes like members of the Enterobacteriaceae family emphasizes that correct maintenance and quality of the feed water supply are key contributing factors and that RO units are not an absolute guarantee for safety.
Perspectives
Perspectives offered are that water systems are highly dynamic and versatile and can rapidly flip to a catastrophic state, thus demanding continuous, strict monitoring. Furthermore, the study's difficulty in recovering or biochemically identifying all isolates (about 7% of positives were unidentified) suggests that relying solely on conventional methods has limitations and advocates for the urgent implementation of Rapid Microbiological Methods (RMMs) and molecular techniques to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of pathogen detection. The high prevalence of these objectionable microbes, notably E. coli and S. aureus, serves as a warning of a great risk of possible future devastating global outbreaks if quality control is not urgently improved.
Independent Researcher & Consultant Mostafa Essam Eissa
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Investigation of Microbiological Quality of Water from the Feed Source to the Terminal Application in the Healthcare Facility: A Case Study, January 2018, International Technology and Science Publications,
DOI: 10.31058/j.hr.2018.21002.
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