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The Tracing of Mycobacteria in Drinking Water Supply Systems by Culture, Conventional, and Real Time PCRs

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Abstract

Mycobacteria are widely present in diverse aquatic habitats, where they can survive for months or years while some species can even proliferate. The resistance of different mycobacterial species to disinfection methods like chlorination or ozonation could result in their presence in the final tap water of consumers. In this study, the culture method, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex conventional duplex PCR for detection of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to detect three subspecies of M. avium species (M. a. avium, M. a. hominissuis, and M. a. paratuberculosis) were used to trace their possible path of transmission from the watershed through the reservoir and drinking water plant to raw drinking water and finally to households. A total of 124 samples from four drinking water supply systems in the Czech Republic, 52 dam sediments, 34 water treatment plant sludge samples, and 38 tap water household sediments, were analyzed. NTM of 11 different species were isolated by culture from 42 (33.9 %) samples; the most prevalent were M. gordonae (16.7 %), M. triplex (14.3 %), M. lentiflavum (9.5 %), M. a. avium (7.1 %), M. montefiorenase (7.1 %), and M. nonchromogenicum (7.1 %). NTM DNA was detected in 92 (76.7 %) samples. By qPCR analysis a statistically significant decrease (P < 0.01) was observed along the route from the reservoir (dam sediments), through water treatment sludge and finally to household sediments. The concentrations ranged from 100 to 104 DNA cells/g. It was confirmed that drinking water supply systems (watershed–reservoir–drinking water treatment plant–household) might be a potential transmission route for mycobacteria.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Grants Nos. MZE0002716202, QH91240 from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (AdmireVet, CZ 1.05/2.1.00/01.0006/ED0006/01/01). The authors would like to thank MVDr. Vojtech Mrlik, CSc. and Mgr. Krystyna Kantorova for their help with collection and culture of the samples, and also RNDr. Vladimir Babak for the statistical analysis of the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Veterinary Research Institute, Hudcova 70, 621 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Barbora Klanicova, Iva Slana, Michal Slany & Ivo Pavlik

  2. Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Institute of Hydrobiology, Na Sadkach 7, 370 05, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

    Jaromir Seda

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  1. Barbora Klanicova
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Correspondence to Barbora Klanicova or Ivo Pavlik.

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Klanicova, B., Seda, J., Slana, I. et al. The Tracing of Mycobacteria in Drinking Water Supply Systems by Culture, Conventional, and Real Time PCRs. Curr Microbiol 67, 725–731 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-013-0427-1

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