Antibiotic resistant E.coli bacteria found in drinking water in France.
Published in the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Journal earlier this week, a team of researchers in Lyon found antibiotic resistant E.coli across 28 different water supply systems across France.
The name E.coli (Escherichia coli) should be a familiar name to most of us. Following cases of E.coli food poisoning outbreak reported in mass media, many would recognize it as bacteria that cause harmful effects. In reality, E.coli actually represents a large and diverse group of bacteria that normally reside in human and animal intestines. Most types of E.coli are not only harmless, but also make important contributions to our normal intestinal activities.
The E.coli food poisoning scares stem from several groups of pathogenic bacteria, whose symptoms include diarrhea and other illnesses that may occur outside our intestinal tracts. For instance, the Shiga toxin-producing E.coli (EAEC) is the type of E.coli bacteria that was responsible for the serious food borne outbreak found in Germany back in 2011.
The E.coli warning from this study is not about the group of diarrhea-causing bacteria. It is about E.coli bacteria that produce genes that are resistant to antibiotics.
ESBL (Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamases) are a genetic enzyme that renders antibiotic treatments ineffective. This means that patients who are hit with ESBL-producing E.coli bacteria will suffer more severe infections, like urinary tract infections or gastroenteritis, and become harder to treat.
ESBL can often be found in waters or soil that are contaminated with fecal matter, like hospital sewage or water waste from livestock. Coming into contact with an ESBL-infected animal can also increase the chance of human transfer from a non-human source.
Although ESBL contamination is often seen reported in the past, like bacteria found in packaged water bags sold in the streets of Kinshasa, or in drinking water in Dhaka, this is the first report of an ESBL-producing E.coli found in a high-income country.
In the study, researchers collected one liter of water samples in 28 different water supply systems across France and tested at the Anses Nancy laboratory. They found contamination, albeit at varied levels, in every single bottle of sample that they brought in.
As a general rule, drinking tap water should be safe to consume in high-income countries thanks to water treatments, like chlorine disinfection, sand filtration, coagulation with aluminum or final chlorine dioxide treatment. According to the European legislation, water contamination should be completely absent in drinking water.
However, the study finds that almost 3.3% of population in France has been supplied at least once in 2012 with drinking water that was not compliant to the European Directive. 94% of water that was not suitable for drinking was streamed to supply systems that provide for less than 2000 people.
All hope is not lost, however. Despite the findings, the researchers say that France is making efforts to improve water treatment, and the water supply systems where the E.coli bacteria were found were recently renovated.
Nevertheless, with the knowledge of how and the extent in which we can become infected with E.coli bacteria, it is important to keep our eyes open for further investigations on European water reservoirs.
The study was supported by the Agency of Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety.