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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2002, p. 5318-5325, Vol. 68, No. 11
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.11.5318-5325.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Occurrence of Mycobacteria in Water Treatment Lines and in Water Distribution Systems
Corinne Le Dantec,1 Jean-Pierre Duguet,2 Antoine Montiel,2 Nadine Dumoutier,3 Sylvie Dubrou,4 and Véronique Vincent1*
Laboratoire de Référence des Mycobactéries, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15,1
Société Anonyme de Gestion des Eaux de Paris, 75675 Paris Cedex 14,2
Ondeo Services, CIRSEE, 78230 Le Pecq,3
Laboratoire d'Hygiène de la ville de Paris, 75013 Paris, France4
Received 22 May 2002/
Accepted 5 August 2002
The frequency of recovery of atypical mycobacteria was estimated in two treatment plants providing drinking water to Paris, France, at some intermediate stages of treatment. The two plants use two different filtration processes, rapid and slow sand filtration. Our results suggest that slow sand filtration is more efficient for removing mycobacteria than rapid sand filtration. In addition, our results show that mycobacteria can colonize and grow on granular activated carbon and are able to enter distribution systems. We also investigated the frequency of recovery of mycobacteria in the water distribution system of Paris (outside buildings). The mycobacterial species isolated from the Paris drinking water distribution system are different from those isolated from the water leaving the treatment plants. Saprophytic mycobacteria (present in 41.3% of positive samples), potentially pathogenic mycobacteria (16.3%), and unidentifiable mycobacteria (54.8%) were isolated from 12 sites within the Paris water distribution system. Mycobacterium gordonae was preferentially recovered from treated surface water, whereas Mycobacterium nonchromogenicum was preferentially recovered from groundwater. No significant correlations were found among the presence of mycobacteria, the origin of water, and water temperature.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratoire de Référence des Mycobactéries, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France. Phone: (33) 1 45 68 83 60. Fax: (33) 1 40 61 31 18. E-mail:
vvincent{at}pasteur.fr.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2002, p. 5318-5325, Vol. 68, No. 11
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.11.5318-5325.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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