Fate and transport of fragmented and spherical microplastics in saturated gravel and quartz sand.

Microplastics in urban runoff undergo rapid fragmentation and accumulate in the soil, potentially endangering shallow groundwater. To improve the understanding of microplastic transport in groundwater, column experiments were performed to compare the transport behavior of fragmented microplastics (FMPs ∼1-µm diameter) and spherical microplastics (SMPs ∼1-, 10-, and 20-µm diameter) in natural gravel (medium and fine) and quartz sand (coarse and medium). Polystyrene microspheres were physically abraded with glass beads to mimic the rapid fragmentation process.

Assessing the impact of inland navigation on the faecal pollution status of large rivers: A novel integrated field approach.

The contribution of ships to the microbial faecal pollution status of water bodies is largely unknown but frequently of human health concern. No methodology for a comprehensive and target-orientated system analysis was available so far. We developed a novel approach for integrated and multistage impact evaluation.

Long-term impact of basin-wide wastewater management on faecal pollution levels along the entire Danube River.

The Danube River is, at 2857 km, the second longest river in Europe and the most international river in the world with 19 countries in its catchment. Along the entire river, faecal pollution levels are mainly influenced by point-source emissions from treated and untreated sewage of municipal origin under base-flow conditions. In the past 2 decades, large investments in wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure were made in the European Union (EU) Member States located in the Danube River Basin (DRB).

Temporal changes in the morphological and microbial diversity of biofilms on the surface of a submerged stone in the Danube River.

Epilithic biofilms are ubiquitous in large river environments and are crucial for biogeochemical processes, but their community structures and functions remain poorly understood. In this paper, the seasonal succession in the morphological structure and the taxonomic composition of an epilithic bacterial biofilm community at a polluted site of the Danube River were followed using electron microscopy, high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and multiplex/taxon-specific PCRs. The biofilm samples were collected from the same submerged stone and carried out bimonthly in the littoral zone of the Danube River, downstream of a large urban area.

The neutralizing effect of heparin on blood-derived antimicrobial compounds: impact on antibacterial activity and inflammatory response.

Acting through a combination of direct and indirect pathogen clearance mechanisms, blood-derived antimicrobial compounds (AMCs) play a pivotal role in innate immunity, safeguarding the host against invading microorganisms. Besides their antimicrobial activity, some AMCs can neutralize endotoxins, preventing their interaction with immune cells and avoiding an excessive inflammatory response. In this study, we aimed to investigate the influence of unfractionated heparin, a polyanionic drug clinically used as anticoagulant, on the endotoxin-neutralizing and antibacterial activity of blood-derived AMCs.

A comparative study on antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli isolates from Austrian patients and wastewater-influenced Danube River water and biofilms.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a major threat to human health worldwide. AMR can be introduced into natural aquatic ecosystems, for example, from clinical facilities via wastewater emissions. Understanding AMR patterns in environmental populations of bacterial pathogens is important to elucidate propagation routes and develop mitigation strategies.

Domestic hot-water boilers harbour active thermophilic bacterial communities distinctly different from those in the cold-water supply.

Running cold and hot water in buildings is a widely established commodity. However, interests regarding hygiene and microbiological aspects had so far been focussed on cold water. Little attention has been given to the microbiology of domestic hot-water installations (DHWIs), except for aspects of pathogenic Legionella.

Introducing bacterial community turnover times to elucidate temporal and spatial hotspots of biological instability in a large Austrian drinking water distribution network.

Ensuring biological stability in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs) is important to reduce the risk of aesthetic, operational and hygienic impairments of the distributed water. Drinking water after treatment often changes in quality during transport due to interactions with pipe-associated biofilms, temperature increases and disinfectant residual decay leading to potential biological instability. To comprehensively assess the potential for biological instability in a large chlorinated DWDS, a tool-box of bacterial biomass and activity parameters was applied, introducing bacterial community turnover times (BaCTT) as a direct, sensitive and easy-to-interpret quantitative parameter based on the combination of H-leucine incorporation with bacterial biomass.

Short-term impacts of a large cultural event on the microbial pollution status of a pre-alpine river.

Rivers are impacted by microbial faecal pollution from various sources. We report on a short-term faecal pollution event at the pre-alpine Austrian river Traisen caused by the large cultural event FM4 Frequency music festival, with around 200,000 visitors over 4 days. We observed a massive increase of the faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) intestinal enterococci during the event, while Escherichia coli concentrations were only slightly elevated.

Epidemiological cut-off values for non-O1/ non-O139 Vibrio cholerae disc diffusion data generated by standardised methods.

This work generates the data needed to set epidemiological cut-off values for disc-diffusion zone measurements of Vibrio cholerae. The susceptibility of 147 European isolates of non-O1/non-O139 V. cholerae to 19 antibiotics was established using a standardised disc diffusion method which specified incubation of Mueller Hinton agar plates at 35°C.

Bacterial bioindicators enable biological status classification along the continental Danube river.

Despite the importance of bacteria in aquatic ecosystems and their predictable diversity patterns across space and time, biomonitoring tools for status assessment relying on these organisms are widely lacking. This is partly due to insufficient data and models to identify reliable microbial predictors. Here, we show metabarcoding in combination with multivariate statistics and machine learning allows to identify bacterial bioindicators for existing biological status classification systems.

Vibrio cholerae-An emerging pathogen in Austrian bathing waters?

Vibrio cholerae, an important human pathogen, is naturally occurring in specific aquatic ecosystems. With very few exceptions, only the cholera-toxigenic strains belonging to the serogroups O1 and O139 are responsible for severe cholera outbreaks with epidemic or pandemic potential. All other nontoxigenic, non-O1/non-O139 V.

Low antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli isolates from two large Austrian alpine karstic spring catchments.

The increasing occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria poses a threat to global public health. Clinically relevant resistances also spread through the environment. Aquatic ecosystems in particular represent important dispersal pathways.

Have genetic targets for faecal pollution diagnostics and source tracking revolutionized water quality analysis yet?

The impacts of nucleic acid-based methods - such as PCR and sequencing - to detect and analyze indicators, genetic markers or molecular signatures of microbial faecal pollution in health-related water quality research were assessed by rigorous literature analysis. A wide range of application areas and study designs has been identified since the first application more than 30 years ago (>1100 publications). Given the consistency of methods and assessment types, we suggest defining this emerging part of science as a new discipline: genetic faecal pollution diagnostics (GFPD) in health-related microbial water quality analysis.

First report on the occurrence of Vibrio cholerae nonO1/nonO139 in natural and artificial lakes and ponds in Serbia: Evidence for a long-distance transfer of strains and the presence of Vibrio paracholerae.

Vibrio cholerae are natural inhabitants of specific aquatic environments. Strains not belonging to serogroups O1 and O139 are usually unable to produce cholera toxin and cause cholera. However, non-toxigenic V.

Probabilistic fecal pollution source profiling and microbial source tracking for an urban river catchment.

We developed an innovative approach to estimate the occurrence and extent of fecal pollution sources for urban river catchments. The methodology consists of 1) catchment surveys complemented by literature data where needed for probabilistic estimates of daily produced fecal indicator (FIBs, E. coli, enterococci) and zoonotic reference pathogen numbers (Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium and Giardia) excreted by human and animal sources in a river catchment, 2) generating a hypothesis about the dominant sources of fecal pollution and selecting a source targeted monitoring design, and 3) verifying the results by comparing measured concentrations of the informed choice of parameters (i.

Corrigendum: Genetic microbial source tracking support QMRA modeling for a riverine wetland drinking water resource.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.

Wastewater-based epidemiology in countries with poor wastewater treatment - Epidemiological indicator function of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in surface waters.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) surveillance of COVID-19 and other future outbreaks is a challenge for developing countries as most households are not connected to a sewerage system. In December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in the Danube River at a site severely affected by wastewaters from Belgrade. Rivers are much more complex systems than wastewater systems, and efforts are needed to address all the factors influencing the adoption of WBE as an alternative to targeting raw wastewater.

Identifying Inorganic Turbidity in Water Samples as Potential Loss Factor During Nucleic Acid Extraction: Implications for Molecular Fecal Pollution Diagnostics and Source Tracking.

Molecular diagnostic methods are increasingly applied for food and environmental analysis. Since several steps are involved in sample processing which can affect the outcome (e.g.

Genetic Microbial Source Tracking Support QMRA Modeling for a Riverine Wetland Drinking Water Resource.

Riverine wetlands are important natural habitats and contain valuable drinking water resources. The transport of human- and animal-associated fecal pathogens into the surface water bodies poses potential risks to water safety. The aim of this study was to develop a new integrative modeling approach supported by microbial source tracking (MST) markers for quantifying the transport pathways of two important reference pathogens, and , from external (allochthonous) and internal (autochthonous) fecal sources in riverine wetlands considering safe drinking water production.

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the Danube River in Serbia associated with the discharge of untreated wastewaters.

In Serbia less than 13% of collected municipal wastewaters is being treated before their release in the environment. This includes all municipal wastewater discharges from Belgrade (capital city of Serbia; population 1,700,000). Previous research has identified the impacts of raw wastewater discharges from Belgrade on the Danube River, and this study investigated if such discharges also provided a pathway for SARS-CoV-2 RNA material.

Modelling the interplay of future changes and wastewater management measures on the microbiological river water quality considering safe drinking water production.

Rivers are important for drinking water supply worldwide. However, they are often impacted by pathogen discharges via wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and combined sewer overflows (CSO). To date, accurate predictions of the effects of future changes and pollution control measures on the microbiological water quality of rivers considering safe drinking water production are hindered due to the uncertainty of the pathogen source and transport variables.

DNA aptamers against bacterial cells can be efficiently selected by a SELEX process using state-of-the art qPCR and ultra-deep sequencing.

DNA aptamers generated by cell-SELEX against bacterial cells have gained increased interest as novel and cost-effective affinity reagents for cell labelling, imaging and biosensing. Here we describe the selection and identification of DNA aptamers for bacterial cells using a combined approach based on cell-SELEX, state-of-the-art applications of quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), next-generation sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatic data analysis. This approach is demonstrated on Enterococcus faecalis (E.