A Study on the Microbiological Status of Mineral Drinking Water.

INTRODUCTION

Water-borne diseases constitute a major health burden in Bangladesh. The objective of this study was to assess the overall quality of mineral water samples that obtained from different shops of Dhaka city.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

To achieve the above-mentioned objective, methods of heterotrophic plate count (HPC) and total coliform count (TCC) were applied. Moreover, isolated colony from mineral water samples were characterized by using biochemical and antimicrobial susceptibility tests.

RESULTS

Different water samples showed different HPC ranged from 1.0×10 to 8.00×10. Antimicrobial sensitivity test of some selected bacteria viz and were performed. It was observed that spp. isolates were susceptible to erythromycin, tetracycline, norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin. Furthermore, a few spp. isolates were intermediate resistant to penicillin and oxacillin. However, most of the spp. isolates were resistant to cefixime.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that mineral water serves as a reservoir of various bacteria and that people in Dhaka city, who are the consumers of these water, might get diseases. This study emphasizes the need for elaborated microbiological examinations of mineral drinking water commonly used in Dhaka city.