The U.S. EPA is concerned that current test methodologies for microbial contamination in ambient (including recreational) waters provide an incomplete assessment of the presence of pathogens. The current test methodologies assess the presence of fecal contamination which can cause human health problems associated with the gastrointestinal system (i.e., enteric), but the methods do not account for non-enteric pathogens. Non-enteric pathogens, which cause diseases affecting the eyes, nose, mouth and skin, may be present in waters that are free of enteric pathogens. Therefore, the U.S. EPA issued a Work Assignment to GLEC to: 1) conduct a literature search to determine which non-enteric pathogens are the most prevalent in the ambient waters of the United States; 2) determine what methods exist for assessing the level of contamination from those pathogens; 3) estimate the feasibility of developing a rapid method for the detection of the most prevalent non-enteric pathogen(s); 4) develop the method; and 5) field test the developed method. An amperometric immunoassay, with a sample processing and analysis time of less than two hours, was developed and field tested for the detection of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Back to Project Experience