The genetic relatedness of E. coli associated with post-collection drinking water contamination in rural households

Abstract

Rural households are o �ten dependent on rivers, springs, boreholes or standpipes some distance �rom their homes �or their daily water requirements. Water �or drinking and domestic use is consequently stored in containers in �house which are prone to post�collection contamination. The objective o � the study was to determine the most likely origin or place o � introduction o� E. coli associated with post �collection contamination in rural households, by assessing the degree o � genetic relatedness o � E. coli present in the stored water and other environmental samples. E. coli isolates were obtained using either mFC agar with confirmation of indole production (44 isolates) or Colilert ®-18 (52 isolates). Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting was applied to determine the genetic relatedness of E. coli isolated �rom in�house storage containers, drink � ing cups, hand-swab samples, cattle dung and from the source water (spring water). DNA fingerprints of E. coli produced a number of clusters (>85% similarity scores calculated with the cosine coefficient).

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