Enterococci Water Analysis

The water environment is an important medium for the transmission of pathogenic bacteria, and the infectious diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria in the water environment will seriously threaten the life and health of the people. Enterococcus is a common pathogen in water environment, which can cause various infectious diseases including urinary tract infection, abdominal and pelvic wound infection, bacteremia and infective endocarditis. With the widespread use of antibiotics, multidrug-resistant enterococci continue to emerge, making enterococcus an important public health problem. Therefore, the development and application of rapid and accurate detection technology is one of the keys to effectively control the spread of Enterococcus.

BOC Sciences has established rapid and accurate detection methods for enterococci in water environments, which plays an important role in water quality monitoring and microbial risk assessment, and is a favorable support for the realization of water safety goals.

Fig. 1 Schematic of the culture-based (Method A) and qPCR-based protocols (Methods B–D) show the workflow from raw beach water samples to comparable results. ^[1]

Indicators and microbiological guidelines

The number of harmful microorganisms and the diversity of forms and physiological conditions in which they appear as water contaminants complicate the analytical procedures for detection and quantification, so the monitoring of pathogenic bacteria in the water environment is mainly based on the detection of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB). Enterococci is a classic indicator commonly used to evaluate the fecal contamination of water.

Table. 1 Criteria for selecting a microorganism as an indicator ^[2]

Detection Technologies

Rapid and reliable detection of pollutants is required in a wide range of water management situations. To this end, we use PCR technology to achieve this goal.

PCR technology is a three-step cyclic in vitro procedure based on the ability of DNA polymerase to replicate DNA strands. The region of DNA to be amplified is specified by the choice of primers. Primers are short oligonucleotides, usually 20-30 nucleotides in length, whose sequences match the ends of the region of interest. Amplification is performed in several thermal cycles. In subsequent cycles, the primers will bind to the original and newly synthesized DNA, resulting in an exponential increase in copy number. The results of PCR are detected by fluorescent double-stranded DNA dyes or probes. The sensitivity of our PCR assay is close to 1 CFU/100 mL. Results were obtained in only 3–4 h, enabling same-day responses to pathogens. We also incorporate several specific primer sets into one PCR assay to detect multiple organisms in one reaction.

Technical Advantages

• High specificity and good repeatability
• Short-time consumption and easy operation
• High degree of automation

Water quality security is an important and timely issue, especially in the context of climate change. BOC Sciences helps managers take timely action to protect users from waterborne pathogens through appropriate detection and quantification of environmental waters. For the selection of microbial contamination indicators, in terms of type and quantity, adapt to the specific environment of the water sample. Finally, it should be emphasized that we are known for more affordable and effective water quality testing.