RESEARCH ARTICLE


Environmental Predictors of Pathogenic Vibrios in South Florida Coastal Waters



Koske Yamazaki*, Nwadiuto Esiobu*
Biological Sciences Department, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Florida Atlantic University, 3200 College Avenue, Davie, Florida 33314, USA.

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2012
Volume: 5
First Page: 1
Last Page: 4
Publisher Id: TOEPIJ-5-1
DOI: 10.2174/1874297101205010001

Article History:

Received Date: 20/01/2012
Revision Received Date: 07/02/2012
Acceptance Date: 15/02/2012
Electronic publication date: 26/3/2012
Collection year: 2012

© 2012Yamazaki et al..

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Biological Sciences Department, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Florida Atlantic University, 3200 College Avenue, Davie, Florida 33314, USA; Tel: (954) 236 1128; Fax: (954) 236 1099; E-mail: nesiobu@fau.edu


Abstract

In 2007, diseases caused by Vibrio vulnificus and other Vibrio species became nationally notifiable in the United States because of the potential severity of bloodstream infections. Direct contact of open wound with seawater and the ingestion of contaminated oysters are the principal modes of transmission. Presently, no clear environmental predictors of oyster contamination are known. This study is the first to report an apparent association between rainfall and Vibrio counts at five South Florida beaches. Using multiple regression and ANOVA, the relationship between Vibrio populations and various environmental factors were examined. Vibrio counts ranged from 135 CFU/100 mL at Hollywood Beach to 186,000 CFU/100 mL at North Miami Beach. Vibrio vulnificus and parahemolyticus were detected (less than 1% of all identified isolates) at two and four beaches respectively. Temperature and rainfall dates were the most significant correlates of the incidence of pathogenic Vibrio species.

Keywords: Vibrio prevalence, environmental factors, rainfall, pathogenic vibrios, coastal beaches.