Identification of some coliforms isolated from water in Damascus and its countryside

Abstract

Water pollution occurs when harmful substances often chemicals or microorganisms contaminate a river, lake, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment, therefore, determining the quality of water and its suitability for human use is an important matter for public health.

Our study aims to determine the presence of bacteria that can be transmitted through the water such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Klebsiella in some areas of Damascus and its countryside to better understanding the nature of the diseases they cause and how to treat and eliminate them. Sixty Water samples were collected over 4 months (September to December 2019) from Damascus and its countryside and samples assessed microbiological quality

in viable indicator bacteria. Our results showed that the general coliform count in some areas of Damascus and its countryside ranged between 0 and 71 or 36 CFU/ml of water, respectively. Whereas, the number of bacteria growing on the EMB was between 0 and 13 and which growing on the S-S agar between 0 and 4 CFU/ml of water. Bacterial isolates were identified by biochemical tests and PCR reaction by using primers for conserved genes in genus and species, which were shown to be E. coli, Salmonella and Klebsiella. Our results showed that the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method can be adopted for detecting coliform in water as a rapid and qualitative method compared to traditional methods and biochemical tests, which takes long time and big effort.