Yeasts and filamentous fungi in bottled mineral water and tap water from municipal supplies

The main objective of this study was to analyse the occurrence of yeasts and filamentous fungi in drinking water as well as to investigate their correlation with the indicator bacteria of faecal pollution. Yeasts were detected in 36.6% and 11.6% of the bottled mineral on water dispensers and tap water samples from municipal system, respectively. Twenty-one (35.0%) of bottled mineral water and two (3.3%) of tap water samples were positive for filamentous fungi. For bottled mineral water 12 (20.0%) of 60 samples were positive for total coliform, compared with 3(5.0%)out of 60 samples from tap water. The mineral water from dispensers was more contaminated than tap water. Strains belonging to the genera Candida identified to the species level were C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata and C. albicans. Thus, bottled mineral water from water dispensers and tap water could be considered a possible transmission route for filamentous fungi and yeasts, and could constitute a potential health hazard, mainly to immunocompromised indivuals.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yamaguchi,Mirian Ueda, Rampazzo,Rita de Cássia Pontello, Yamada-Ogatta,Sueli Fumie, Nakamura,Celso Vataru, Ueda-Nakamura,Tânia, Dias Filho,Benedito Prado
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Instituto de Tecnologia do Paraná - Tecpar 2007
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132007000100001
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!