Study of Microbial Contamination of the Public Swimming Pools with Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Their Physical Parameters in Kermanshah, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Public swimming pools' waters are contaminated with a wide variety of pathogenic microorganisms and are a suitable environment for transmission of different diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbial contamination of the public swimming pools' waters with Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and to determine certain parameters such as residual chlorine, pH, temperature and turbidity in these pools' waters in Kermanshah. In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, 129 water samples were taken from all active pools in Kermanshah and their bacteriologic and physicochemical properties were investigated. Phosphatase alkaline (PHO-A) gene was used for molecular confirmation of E. coli isolates, and exotoxin A (ETA) gene in PCR was employed to confirm pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa isolates. Data were analyzed by chi-square and t-test. p0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that appropriate amount of residual chlorine caused reduction in microbial contamination in the public swimming pools' waters in Kermanshah.

Keywords

• swimming pools
• escherichia coli
• pseudomonas aeruginosa
• polymerase chain reaction