Membrane filter technique for the quantification of stressed fecal coliforms in the aquatic environment.

A two-layer membrane filtration (MF) medium (injury-mitigating MF [IM-MF]) and a procedure for the enumeration of injured fecal coliforms are described. These procedures included the addition of glycerol and acetate plus reducing agents to both layers of a two-layer medium and rinsing of the filter with a rich resuscitation medium. Some changes in incubation time and temperatures were used. This method was compared with the multiple-tube fermentation most-probable-number procedure and the one-step M-FC agar-membrane filter method (direct M-FC) in terms of fecal coliform recovery from various aquatic environments that cause bacterial injury. With chlorinated sewage effluents, results of the IM-MF technique were equal to or greater than the most probable number in 9 of 18 trials and were 1.3 to 19 times greater than the M-FC method. When sewage samples were chlorinated in the laboratory, fecal coliform counts with IM-MF equaled or exceeded the most probable number in 7 of 15 trials and always exceeded the M-FC. M-FC was exceeded by IM-MF in 30 of 33 trials with clean mountain stream water. Fecal coliform bacteria that were exposed to low levels of an iodophore in the laboratory produced IM-MF counts 3 to 10 times greater than those with M-FC. A biochemical rationale for the formation of the IM-MF medium is discussed.