DETECTION OF ZOONOTIC PATHOGENS IN UNTREATED GROUND WATER IN RURAL EGYPTIAN COMMUNITIES

The simplified individual water supplies that are created by rural agriculture population usually
maximize the customers' exposure to impurity pathogens via diffused human and animal excreta
or wastages. This study evaluated the frequency of zoonotic pathogens in infiltrated untreated
ground water. A total of two hundred and seventy ground water samples were collected from
various individual home water supplies at different rural Egyptian localities and analyzed for the
detection of bacterial, fungal and parasitic zoonotic pathogens. The results recognized
Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Shigella spp.
Yersinia enterocolitica and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at percentage of 10.37, 5.93, 27.41, 4.81,
8.15, 4.44 and 9.26, respectively. The fungal isolates were Candida albicans and Cryptococcus
neoformans at a percentage of 6.66 and 1.48, respectively. Also, Entamoeba histolytica and
Giardia intestinalis were detected in 5/270 (1.85%) and 20/270 (7.41%) of the examined
untreated ground water, respectively. The results confirm human bio-hazards through rural
individual water supplies, and reflect the need of public health education toward the accurate use
of drinking ground water only after perfect treatment.