TITLE:
Optimization of Technical Parameters for Detecting Mycobacteria in Hospital Wastewater in Tropical Urban Areas: The Case of the City of Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)
AUTHORS:
Cissé Souleymane, Coulibaly-Kalpy Julien, Vakou N’dri Sabine, Assohoiun Egomli Stanislas, Ouattara Mohamed Baguy, Kouamé Kintossou Ambroise, Diané Kouao Maxime, Ettien Money Marcelle, Nguessan Felix Kouassi, Dosso Mireille
KEYWORDS:
Hospital Wastewater, Mycobacterium, Decontamination, Löwenstein Jensen Medium, Growth Temperature
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Microbiology,
Vol.13 No.3,
September
28,
2023
ABSTRACT: The loads of organic matter, microorganisms,
detergents and antibiotics in liquid hospital effluents make them complex
environments, raising numerous health and ecological questions. Investigations
of mycobacteria in water lack adequate techniques. This study is the first part
of a pilot project aimed at developing an optimized protocol for the isolation
of mycobacteria from hospital effluents, as a prelude to more in-depth
investigation in this matrix. The aim was to compare the performance of two
decontamination methods, three culture media and two incubation temperatures
generally proposed in the literature, in order to identify the most effective
methods in each case, as well as possible areas for improvement in the
isolation of these germs from this environmental matrix. The results show that
liquid hospital effluent can be decontaminated using both the NaOH method (4%;
for 30 min.) and the CPC method (0.05%; for 30 min.), with the same
mycobacteria recovery efficiency. Despite the low concentration, decontamination
with CPC killed more mycobacteria and sufficiently eliminated contaminating
germs. In contrast, decontamination with NaOH was less harmful to mycobacteria,
but did not remove many contaminating germs. On the other hand, LJG medium
performed better than LJGF medium and LJGP medium for the growth of
mycobacteria in hospital waters. Finally, there was no difference in
performance between the two incubation temperatures of 30℃ and 37℃. The results of this study show that further evaluation of existing
protocols is required in order to optimize methods for the pre-treatment of
hospital effluent for the isolation of mycobacteria.