SALMONELLA IN EFFLUENT FROM SEWAGE-TREATMENT PLANTS, WASTEPIPE OF BUTCHERS SHOPS AND SURFACE-WATER IN WALCHEREN

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 162  (3-4) , 307-319
Abstract
In the frame of the Walcheren [Netherlands] in which the epidemiology of salmonellosis is studied in a certain area, effluent from sewage treatment plants, wastepipes of butcher shops and surface waters receiving the effluent were studied for the presence of salmonellae. From 160 effluent samples 150 (94%) contained salmonellae. The most common serotype was Salmonella typhi murium (35%) followed by S. panama and S. infantis. Butcher shop wastepipes (14) were sampled 54 times. Salmonellae were found 14 times (26%) but the type isolated from the butcher shop was the same as that found in the effluent on the same day only twice. In surface waters receiving effluent from the immediate vicinity of the plant to 250 m downstream from the effluent drainage site the number of salmonellae per 100 ml remained almost constant. After 1.5-4 km Salmonella was not isolated from any samples. Salmonellae apparently multiply in the sewage system and/or plant. The spread of salmonellae by effluent seems limited to the plant itself and the near vicinity. Interruption of contamination cycles by decontamination measures is proposed.

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