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Díaz-Gavidia C, Barría C, Weller DL, Salgado-Caxito M, Estrada EM, Araya A, Vera L, Smith W, Kim M, Moreno-Switt AI, Olivares-Pacheco J, Adell AD. Humans and Hoofed Livestock Are the Main Sources of Fecal Contamination of Rivers Used for Crop Irrigation: A Microbial Source Tracking Approach. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:768527. [PMID: 35847115 PMCID: PMC9279616 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.768527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Freshwater bodies receive waste, feces, and fecal microorganisms from agricultural, urban, and natural activities. In this study, the probable sources of fecal contamination were determined. Also, antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) were detected in the two main rivers of central Chile. Surface water samples were collected from 12 sampling sites in the Maipo (n = 8) and Maule Rivers (n = 4) every 3 months, from August 2017 until April 2019. To determine the fecal contamination level, fecal coliforms were quantified using the most probable number (MPN) method and the source of fecal contamination was determined by Microbial Source Tracking (MST) using the Cryptosporidium and Giardia genotyping method. Separately, to determine if antimicrobial resistance bacteria (AMB) were present in the rivers, Escherichia coli and environmental bacteria were isolated, and the antibiotic susceptibility profile was determined. Fecal coliform levels in the Maule and Maipo Rivers ranged between 1 and 130 MPN/100-ml, and 2 and 30,000 MPN/100-ml, respectively. Based on the MST results using Cryptosporidium and Giardia host-specific species, human, cattle, birds, and/or dogs hosts were the probable sources of fecal contamination in both rivers, with human and cattle host-specific species being more frequently detected. Conditional tree analysis indicated that coliform levels were significantly associated with the river system (Maipo versus Maule), land use, and season. Fecal coliform levels were significantly (p < 0.006) higher at urban and agricultural sites than at sites immediately downstream of treatment centers, livestock areas, or natural areas. Three out of eight (37.5%) E. coli isolates presented a multidrug-resistance (MDR) phenotype. Similarly, 6.6% (117/1768) and 5.1% (44/863) of environmental isolates, in Maipo and Maule River showed and MDR phenotype. Efforts to reduce fecal discharge into these rivers should thus focus on agriculture and urban land uses as these areas were contributing the most and more frequently to fecal contamination into the rivers, while human and cattle fecal discharges were identified as the most likely source of this fecal contamination by the MST approach. This information can be used to design better mitigation strategies, thereby reducing the burden of waterborne diseases and AMR in Central Chile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constanza Díaz-Gavidia
- Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
- Millennium Initiative for Collaborative Research on Bacterial Resistance (MICROB-R), Santiago, Chile
| | - Carla Barría
- Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
- Millennium Initiative for Collaborative Research on Bacterial Resistance (MICROB-R), Santiago, Chile
| | - Daniel L. Weller
- Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY, United States
- Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, United States
| | - Marilia Salgado-Caxito
- Millennium Initiative for Collaborative Research on Bacterial Resistance (MICROB-R), Santiago, Chile
- Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Erika M. Estrada
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech, Painter, Virginia
| | - Aníbal Araya
- Millennium Initiative for Collaborative Research on Bacterial Resistance (MICROB-R), Santiago, Chile
- Grupo de Resistencia Antimicrobiana en Bacterias Patógenas y Ambientales (GRABPA), Instituto de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaiso, Chile
| | - Leonardo Vera
- Escuela Ingeniería Ambiental, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Woutrina Smith
- One Health Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Minji Kim
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Andrea I. Moreno-Switt
- Millennium Initiative for Collaborative Research on Bacterial Resistance (MICROB-R), Santiago, Chile
- Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Jorge Olivares-Pacheco
- Millennium Initiative for Collaborative Research on Bacterial Resistance (MICROB-R), Santiago, Chile
- Grupo de Resistencia Antimicrobiana en Bacterias Patógenas y Ambientales (GRABPA), Instituto de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaiso, Chile
| | - Aiko D. Adell
- Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
- Millennium Initiative for Collaborative Research on Bacterial Resistance (MICROB-R), Santiago, Chile
- *Correspondence: Aiko D. Adell,
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