Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T17:08:07.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Significance of Bact. aerogenes in Water

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

J.D. Allan Gray
J.D. Allan Gray
Affiliation:
From the Bacteriology Department, University of Liverpool.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

1. Bact. aerogenes is practically universally present, although in small numbers in the stools of normal adult humans. The stools of one individual, however, repeatedly gave negative results. The organism has also been isolated from the faeces of horse, cow, sheep, pig, dog, cat, wild rabbit, wild rat and wild mouse.

2. The use of modifications of the citrate medium, containing lithium or barium, is useful in the isolation of Bact. aerogenes when B. pyocyaneus is abundant.

3. Bact. aerogenes predominates over B. coli in soil, the contamination of which by faecal material was unlikely. The B. coli isolated from such soil do not show differences by the tests used from typical faecal strains of B. coli.

4. In the municipal water supply of Liverpool the proportion of Bact. aerogenes to B. coli is relatively high and increases on storage.

5. In water contaminated with faeces, the proportion of Bact. aerogenes to B. coli is relatively low but is rapidly reversed on storage. This is largely due to the death of the B. coli, but may in part be also due to multiplication of the Bact. aerogenes present.

6. Preponderance of Bact. aerogenes over B. coli in a water supply is indicative of either (a) contact with soil which is not contaminated with fresh faeces, or (b) long past faecal contamination.

7. Preponderance of Bact. aerogenes over B. coli in a water supply may, for practical purposes, be regarded as an indication of freedom on the part of the water from pathogenic organisms, including B. typhosus and B. paratyphosus B.

8. The repeated examination of faeces during storage showed a marked increase followed by a gradual decrease in the total number of organisms present. The decrease coincided with an increase in the numbers of Bact.aerogenes relative to the organisms present. Whether an absolute increase in the numbers of Bact. aerogenes occurred, was not determined.

9. A plea is made for uniformity among the tests adopted by future workers for the identification of coliform organisms, and an exact statement of the methods employed.

The writer desires to thank Prof. J. M. Beattie for helpful advice throughout the course of the investigation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , January 1932 , pp. 132 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1932

References

American Public Health Association (1923). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Sewage.Google Scholar
Archibald, R. G. (1930). J. Trop. Med. and Hyg. 33, 80.Google Scholar
Ayres, S. H. and Rupp, P. (1918). J. Inf. Dis. 23, 188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beattie, J. M. (1930). The Value of Regular Systematic Examination of Water. British Waterworks Association Official Circular, No. 89.Google Scholar
Brown, H. C. (1921). Lancet, 1, 23.Google Scholar
Brown, H. C., Duncan, J. T. and Henry, T. A. (1924). J. Hyg. 23, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browning, C. H., Gilmour, W. and Mackie, T. J. (1913). J. Hyg. 13, 335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, G. C. and Rettger, L. F. (1920). J. Bact. 5, 253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, W. M. and Lubs, H. A. (1915). J. Inf. Dis. 17, 160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, W. M. and Lubs, H. A. (1917). J. Bact. 2, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clemesha, W. M. (1912). The Bacteriology of Surface Waters in the Tropics. Calcutta.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cruickshank, J. (1930). On the Occurrence of B. aerogenes in the Faeces. Unpublished communication to Path. Soc. of Great Britain and Ireland.Google Scholar
Cruickshank, J. and Cruickshank, R. (1931). Med. Res. Council. System of Bacteriology, 8, 334.Google Scholar
Dixon, G. (1919). The Transmutation of Bacteria. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Escherich, T. (1885). Fortschr. Med. 3, 515–547.Google Scholar
Frost, W. D. (1904). J. Inf. Dis. 1, 599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J. D. A. (1931). J. Path. and Bact. 34, 335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinick, Quoted by Percival, J. (1920). Agricultural Bacteriology. London. 2nd edit.Google Scholar
Houston, A. C. (1908, etc.). Ann. Rep. Metropol. Water Board.Google Scholar
Hulton, F. (1916). J. Inf. Dis. 19, 606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, E. O. (1926). J. Inf. Dis. 38, 306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, E. O., Russell, H. L. and Zett, F. R. (1904). J. Inf. Dis. 1, 641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konradi, D. (1904). Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. Abt. I. Orig. 36, 203.Google Scholar
Koser, S. A. (1923). J. Bact. 8, 493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koser, S. A. (1924, 1). J. Bact. 9, 59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koser, S. A. (1924, 2). J. Inf. Dis. 35, 14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koser, S. A. (1924, 3). J. Inf. Dis. 315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koser, S. A. (1926). J. Bact. 11, 77.Google Scholar
Levine, J. (1916). J. Inf. Dis. 18, 358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacConkey, A. (1909). J. Hyg. 9, 86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackie, T. J. and McCartney, J. E. (1931). An Introduction to Practical Bacteriology. Edin. 3rd edit.Google Scholar
Norton, J. F. (1928), in Jordan, and Falk, , Newer Knowledge of Bacteriology, p. 362. Chicago Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Paine, F. S. (1927). J. Bact. 13, 269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pawan, J. L. (1925). Ann. Trop. Med. and Parasitol. 19, 319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, J. (1898). Brit. Med. J. 1, 69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, L. A., Clark, W. M. and Evans, A. C. (1914). J. Inf. Dis. 15, 99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, L. A., Clark, W. M. and Evans, A. C. (1915). J. Inf. Dis. 17, 137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, L. A., Clark, W. M. and Evans, A. C. (1916). J. Bact. 1, 82.Google Scholar
Skinner, C. E. and Murray, T. J. (1926). J. Inf. Dis. 38, 37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Theobald, (1895). Amer. J. Med. Sci. 110, 283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stovall, W. D. and Nichols, M. S. (1918). J. Inf. Dis. 23, 229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voges, O. and Proskauer, B. (1898). Zeitschr. Hyg. Infektkr. 28, 20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, W. J. (1929). The Colon Group and Similar Bacteria. Med. Res. Council. System of Bacteriology, 4, 254.Google Scholar
Wilson, W. J. and Blair, E. McV. (1927). J. Hyg. 26, 374.Google Scholar
Winslow, C.-E. A. (1928), in Jordan, and Falk, , Newer Knowledge of Bacteriology, p. 58. Chicago Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Winslow, C.-E. A. and Cohen, B. (1918,1). J. Inf. Dis. 23, 82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winslow, C.-E. A. and Cohen, B. (1918,2). J. Inf. Dis. 90.Google Scholar