This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hilborn, E. D.
Right arrow Articles by Stelma, G. N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hilborn, E. D.
Right arrow Articles by Stelma, G. N., Jr.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Hilborn, E. D.
Right arrow Articles by Stelma, G. N.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2006, p. 5864-5869, Vol. 72, No. 9
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00759-06

Persistence of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in a Drinking Water System after Addition of Filtration Treatment

Elizabeth D. Hilborn,1* Terry C. Covert,2 Mitchell A. Yakrus,3 Stephanie I. Harris,4 Sandra F. Donnelly,5 Eugene W. Rice,6 Sean Toney,3 Stephanie A. Bailey,4 and Gerard N. Stelma Jr.2

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711,1 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio 45268,2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Division of TB Elimination, Atlanta, Georgia 30333,3 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10 Laboratory, Port Orchard, Washington 98366,4 Clark County Water Reclamation District, Las Vegas, Nevada,5 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Homeland Security Research Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 452686

Received 31 March 2006/ Accepted 24 June 2006

There is evidence that drinking water may be a source of infections with pathogenic nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in humans. One method by which NTM are believed to enter drinking water distribution systems is by their intracellular colonization of protozoa. Our goal was to determine whether we could detect a reduction in the prevalence of NTM recovered from an unfiltered surface drinking water system after the addition of ozonation and filtration treatment and to characterize NTM isolates by using molecular methods. We sampled water from two initially unfiltered surface drinking water treatment plants over a 29-month period. One plant received the addition of filtration and ozonation after 6 months of sampling. Sample sites included those at treatment plant effluents, distributed water, and cold water taps (point-of-use [POU] sites) in public or commercial buildings located within each distribution system. NTM were recovered from 27% of the sites. POU sites yielded the majority of NTM, with >50% recovery despite the addition of ozonation and filtration. Closely related electrophoretic groups of Mycobacterium avium were found to persist at POU sites for up to 26 months. Water collected from POU cold water outlets was persistently colonized with NTM despite the addition of ozonation and filtration to a drinking water system. This suggests that cold water POU outlets need to be considered as a potential source of chronic human exposure to NTM.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, MD-58A, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711. Phone: (919) 966-0658. Fax: (919) 966-0655. E-mail: hilborn.e{at}epa.gov.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2006, p. 5864-5869, Vol. 72, No. 9
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00759-06




This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Feazel, L. M., Baumgartner, L. K., Peterson, K. L., Frank, D. N., Harris, J. K., Pace, N. R. (2009). Opportunistic pathogens enriched in showerhead biofilms. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 16393-16399 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sweet, L., Zhang, W., Torres-Fewell, H., Serianni, A., Boggess, W., Schorey, J. (2008). Mycobacterium avium Glycopeptidolipids Require Specific Acetylation and Methylation Patterns for Signaling through Toll-like Receptor 2. J. Biol. Chem. 283: 33221-33231 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Schorey, J. S, Sweet, L. (2008). The mycobacterial glycopeptidolipids: structure, function, and their role in pathogenesis. Glycobiology 18: 832-841 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hilborn, E. D., Yakrus, M. A., Covert, T. C., Harris, S. I., Donnelly, S. F., Schmitt, M. T., Toney, S., Bailey, S. A., Stelma, G. N. Jr. (2008). Molecular Comparison of Mycobacterium avium Isolates from Clinical and Environmental Sources. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 4966-4968 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Thomson, R., Carter, R., Gilpin, C., Coulter, C., Hargreaves, M. (2008). Comparison of Methods for Processing Drinking Water Samples for the Isolation of Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium intracellulare. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 3094-3098 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Gow, A. G., Gow, D. J. (2008). Disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex infection in a dog. Vet Rec. 162: 594-595 [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»