Pseudomonas in salt water bath

Question

We love to go to salt water baths. Do Pseudomonas bacteria survive in salt water? If so, what is the impact of the salt concentration? Does the additional chorination has a positive effect in such baths?

Answer

Survival of P. aeruginosa in water is dependent on the salt concentration but also from various other factors including sun light. P. aeruginosa normally is not found in sea water but in sewage [1-3]. When sewage is introduced into the sea, the P. aeruginosa can also be detected as evidenced at several beaches in the mediteranean sea (4-7). Therefore in the salt water bath there should not be P. aeruginosa. Furthermore, chlorination is always effective at the right dosage against P. aeruginosa.
Ich hope, that this helps

Yours

Prof. Dr. Gerd Döring

Literatur

1. Botzenhart K, Döring G (1993) Epidemiology and ecology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In: Campa M, Bendi¬nelli M, Friedman H (Hrsg) Pseudomonas aeruginosa as an oppor-tunistic pathogen. Plenum Publishing Cooperation, New York, pp1-18
2. Mitscherlich E, Marth EH (1984) Microbial Survival in the Environment. Springer, Berlin
3. Rhame FS (1980) The ecology and epidemiology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In: Sa-bath LD (Hrsg) Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the Organism, Diseases it Causes, and their Treatment. Hans Huber Publishers, Bern pp 31-51
4. de Vicente A, Aviles M, Borrego JJ, Romero P (1988) Die-off and survival of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in seawater. Zentralbl Bakteriol Mikrobiol HygB 186:261-72
5. Ghinsberg RC, Bar-Dov L, Rogol M, Sheinberg Y, Nitzan Y (1994) Monitoring of se-lected bacteria and fungi in sand and sea water along the Tel Aviv coast. Microbios 77:29-40
6. Mates A (1992) The significance of testing for Pseudomonas aeruginosa in recreational seawater beaches. Microbios 71:89-93
7. Yoshpe-Purer Y, Golderman S. Occurrence of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Israeli coastal water (1987) Appl Environ Microbiol 53:1138-1141

20.11.2008