Molecular epidemiology of vibrio pathogens in selected surface waters and treated final effluents of wastewater treatment plants in Chris Hani District Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Ayodeji, Onsula Charles
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Sewage disposal plants Sewage -- Purification Water -- Purification -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , Microbiology
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10464 , vital:35478
- Description: Access to clean and safe water is essential for the survival of human beings. Nevertheless pollution from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) effluents often impacts the microbiological qualities of surface waters. Availability of freshwater resources is indispensable for preventing waterborne diseases. The current study evaluated the physicochemical properties and abundance of Vibrio species in selected rivers and WWTPs in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, over a one year sampling regime (December, 2016 to November, 2017). Water samples were collected monthly at designated locations along the banks of two rivers, treated effluents from 500 m upstream and downstream discharge points of two WWTPs and examined for physicochemical qualities, prevalence of Vibrio pathogens and their antibiogram profiles using both cultural and molecular techniques. The findings reveal the qualities of Tsomo and Great Fish river qualities with respect to electrical conductivity (EC) (137.75 – 377.69 mg/l), total suspended solids (TSS) (52.00 – 725.19 mg/l) and temperature (12.7 – 23 oC) and the treated effluents of WW-AD and WW-CR WWTPs with respect to EC (525.73 – 1071.89 mg/l), free chlorine (0.00 mg/l – 0.68 mg/l), temperature (12.4 – 28.8 oC), TSS (14.67 – 276.44 mg/l) exceeds the permissible limits set for effluent discharged to freshwater by South Africa guidelines. Other physicochemical qualities such as turbidity (63.11 – 797.17 NTU), BOD (3.30 – 5.26 mg/l) and TDS (68.88 – 148.14 mg/l) for Tsomo and Great Fish river and turbidity (20.33 – 310 NTU), biological oxygen demand (BOD) (1.28 – 4.96 mg/l), and total dissolve solid (TDS) (262.89 – 534.89 mg/l) for WWTPs WW-AD and WW-CR did not comply with WHO and EU standards as no regulation is set for them in the South African guidelines for domestic water usage. Statistical analysis revealed that pH, electrical conductivities, dissolved oxygen and total dissolved solid were significantly different whereas temperature did not differ significantly with respect to the four seasons (P < 0.05). The Vibrio densities for Great Fish river ranged between 0 and 3.29 log10 CFU/ml with the highest obtained in the spring. The Tsomo River Vibrio densities varied between 0 to 3.56 log10 CFU/ml and the maximum densities recorded during summer. The presumptive Vibrio densities in WW-AD and WW-CR WWTPs ranged from 0 to 3.67 log10 CFU/ml and 0 to 4.42 log10 CFU/ml with autumn and spring having the highest loads respectively. Molecular identification of the presumptive Vibrio species revealed 424 positive for the Vibrio genus. Of these, 21.69 percent, 11.79 percent, 8.25 percent and 2.12 percent were confirmed as V. cholerae, V. mimicus, V. parahaemolyticus and V. fluvialis respectively. The presence of potentially Vibrio pathogens in the rivers and treated effluents suggests potential public health threat to the communities relying on receiving watersheds where the effluents are discharged. Results of antibiotic sensitivity testing revealed high sensitivities against Ofloxacin (85.54 percent), Cefuroxime (81.93 percent), and Ciprofloxacin (74.70 percent), whereas resistance against other antibiotics follow this order: Imipenem (42.17 percent), Amoxicillin-Clavulanic Acid (54.17 percent), Ampicillin (63.54 percent), Nitrofurantoin (71.79 percent) and Polymyxin B (97.44 percent). Surprisingly, the resistance of Vibrio species against the known effective Carbapenems was relatively high (Meropenem (38.54 percent) and Imipenem (58.88 percent). Multiple antibiotic resistance phenotypes (MARP) of the isolates were resistant to two or more antibiotics whereas the calculated multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARI) ranged from 0.2 to 0.7. The observed high multiple antibiotics index suggest the recovered Vibrio pathogens are of high antimicrobial usage origin. Increase in antimicrobial resistance profiles towards conventionally used antibiotics as indicated in this study calls for adequate sanitation facilities and proper surveillance programs towards monitoring of antimicrobial resistance determinants in wastewater treatment effluents and receiving watersheds. This will in turn enhance early detection of resistant strains of public health importance, and supports the prompt notification and investigation of outbreaks. It further advocates the need for constant monitoring programme by the relevant regulatory agencies to ensure total compliance of the wastewater treatment facilities to the stipulated standards.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ayodeji, Onsula Charles
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Sewage disposal plants Sewage -- Purification Water -- Purification -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , Microbiology
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10464 , vital:35478
- Description: Access to clean and safe water is essential for the survival of human beings. Nevertheless pollution from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) effluents often impacts the microbiological qualities of surface waters. Availability of freshwater resources is indispensable for preventing waterborne diseases. The current study evaluated the physicochemical properties and abundance of Vibrio species in selected rivers and WWTPs in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, over a one year sampling regime (December, 2016 to November, 2017). Water samples were collected monthly at designated locations along the banks of two rivers, treated effluents from 500 m upstream and downstream discharge points of two WWTPs and examined for physicochemical qualities, prevalence of Vibrio pathogens and their antibiogram profiles using both cultural and molecular techniques. The findings reveal the qualities of Tsomo and Great Fish river qualities with respect to electrical conductivity (EC) (137.75 – 377.69 mg/l), total suspended solids (TSS) (52.00 – 725.19 mg/l) and temperature (12.7 – 23 oC) and the treated effluents of WW-AD and WW-CR WWTPs with respect to EC (525.73 – 1071.89 mg/l), free chlorine (0.00 mg/l – 0.68 mg/l), temperature (12.4 – 28.8 oC), TSS (14.67 – 276.44 mg/l) exceeds the permissible limits set for effluent discharged to freshwater by South Africa guidelines. Other physicochemical qualities such as turbidity (63.11 – 797.17 NTU), BOD (3.30 – 5.26 mg/l) and TDS (68.88 – 148.14 mg/l) for Tsomo and Great Fish river and turbidity (20.33 – 310 NTU), biological oxygen demand (BOD) (1.28 – 4.96 mg/l), and total dissolve solid (TDS) (262.89 – 534.89 mg/l) for WWTPs WW-AD and WW-CR did not comply with WHO and EU standards as no regulation is set for them in the South African guidelines for domestic water usage. Statistical analysis revealed that pH, electrical conductivities, dissolved oxygen and total dissolved solid were significantly different whereas temperature did not differ significantly with respect to the four seasons (P < 0.05). The Vibrio densities for Great Fish river ranged between 0 and 3.29 log10 CFU/ml with the highest obtained in the spring. The Tsomo River Vibrio densities varied between 0 to 3.56 log10 CFU/ml and the maximum densities recorded during summer. The presumptive Vibrio densities in WW-AD and WW-CR WWTPs ranged from 0 to 3.67 log10 CFU/ml and 0 to 4.42 log10 CFU/ml with autumn and spring having the highest loads respectively. Molecular identification of the presumptive Vibrio species revealed 424 positive for the Vibrio genus. Of these, 21.69 percent, 11.79 percent, 8.25 percent and 2.12 percent were confirmed as V. cholerae, V. mimicus, V. parahaemolyticus and V. fluvialis respectively. The presence of potentially Vibrio pathogens in the rivers and treated effluents suggests potential public health threat to the communities relying on receiving watersheds where the effluents are discharged. Results of antibiotic sensitivity testing revealed high sensitivities against Ofloxacin (85.54 percent), Cefuroxime (81.93 percent), and Ciprofloxacin (74.70 percent), whereas resistance against other antibiotics follow this order: Imipenem (42.17 percent), Amoxicillin-Clavulanic Acid (54.17 percent), Ampicillin (63.54 percent), Nitrofurantoin (71.79 percent) and Polymyxin B (97.44 percent). Surprisingly, the resistance of Vibrio species against the known effective Carbapenems was relatively high (Meropenem (38.54 percent) and Imipenem (58.88 percent). Multiple antibiotic resistance phenotypes (MARP) of the isolates were resistant to two or more antibiotics whereas the calculated multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARI) ranged from 0.2 to 0.7. The observed high multiple antibiotics index suggest the recovered Vibrio pathogens are of high antimicrobial usage origin. Increase in antimicrobial resistance profiles towards conventionally used antibiotics as indicated in this study calls for adequate sanitation facilities and proper surveillance programs towards monitoring of antimicrobial resistance determinants in wastewater treatment effluents and receiving watersheds. This will in turn enhance early detection of resistant strains of public health importance, and supports the prompt notification and investigation of outbreaks. It further advocates the need for constant monitoring programme by the relevant regulatory agencies to ensure total compliance of the wastewater treatment facilities to the stipulated standards.
- Full Text:
Poverty, Food insecurity and livelihood diversification among households in Eastern Cape province, South Africa
- Authors: Megbowon, Ebenezer Toyin
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Food supply -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Households -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/13086 , vital:39464
- Description: Livelihood diversification have been thought to be a rural issue where agriculture is the main source of income, however in an era of dwindling global and national economic situations, livelihood diversification have been seen to be prominent among urban dwellers as well although literatures have focused more on rural households. There is also a growing evidence in literature showing that livelihood diversification is indispensable for improving household welfare. This study adopts the sustainable livelihood framework to investigate the pattern and determinants of livelihood diversification (number of income sources) and the welfare (poverty and food insecurity) effect of livelihood diversification on household in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Indicators of poverty and food security were computed using Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and FANTA’s Household Dietary Diversity Scores (HDDS). The study relied on data obtained from the Nation-wide annual General household Survey carried out in 2014 having 3033 households sampled from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Poisson regression, Tobit regression and logistic regression models. The result of the Multidimensional Poverty Index headcount revealed that while majority (71.28 percent) of the households are not multidimensionaly poor, 20.51 percent, 6.89 percent and 1.32 percent are vulnerable to multidimensional poverty, multidimensionaly poor and severely multidimensionaly poor respectively. The study also revealed that while there is a significant differences between multidimensional poverty status in the both rural and urban area, there is no much differences when considering the gender of the household head. This indicates that poverty is still a rural phenomenon in the Province. Furthermore, the largest contributor (dimension and indicators) to household multidimensional poverty in the Province is standard of living dimension and specific indicator are the fuels use for cooking, water and space heating, toilet system, dwelling and asset accumulation are the most areas of highest deprivation. The household dietary diversity score show that household have a diverse diet with a mean score of 6.9; however the diversity is skewed toward food groups that do not give expected nutritional diets for a healthy and an economically active life. In General pulse diet and vegetables (spinach and wild green leaves) are least consumed in the province. Consumption of fruit is shown to be less consumed in the rural area as compared to the urban area. Descriptive analysis of livelihood diversification among households in the province revealed that majority of households are not diversified. Poisson regression estimate produced a good fit shown by the statistical insignificance of the deviance good of fit (p=1.09). Age of household head, population group of the head, education attainment of the head, engagement in agriculture, recipient of remittance and number of economic active member of the household) were found to be statistically significant (p<0.01) and were found to influence the probability of a household diversifying their livelihood base in the study area. The result of the Tobit regression on effect of livelihood diversification and other household socio-economic characteristics on household poverty suggest livelihood diversification has no statistically significant effect on the probability of being poor in the study area. Other variables found to influence poverty are, household head’s gender (male), age, education, employment status, access to electricity, engagement in agriculture, salary earning, economic active size of household and asset score) were found to be significantly (p<0.01) to influencing multidimensional poverty of the poor households. The result of the logistic regression indicates that livelihood diversification has no significant effect on the probability of a household being poor. Gender of head, age of household head, education attainment of the head, access to electricity, engagement in agriculture, recipients of pension, number of economic active and living in urban area were also found to be statistically significant in influencing household food insecurity in the province. The findings illustrates that livelihood diversification may not be relevant for household welfare in the case of South Africa. However promoting livelihood diversification remain imperative for household welfare in the South Africa in the long-run. It further illustrate that gender of head, education, access to electricity, home agriculture are imperative for the improvement of household welfare. Hence the study recommends policy relating to conditional granting of cash grant support, intensification of rural development programmes, education affordable and accessible at all level and support home stead or subsistence agriculture.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Megbowon, Ebenezer Toyin
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Food supply -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Households -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/13086 , vital:39464
- Description: Livelihood diversification have been thought to be a rural issue where agriculture is the main source of income, however in an era of dwindling global and national economic situations, livelihood diversification have been seen to be prominent among urban dwellers as well although literatures have focused more on rural households. There is also a growing evidence in literature showing that livelihood diversification is indispensable for improving household welfare. This study adopts the sustainable livelihood framework to investigate the pattern and determinants of livelihood diversification (number of income sources) and the welfare (poverty and food insecurity) effect of livelihood diversification on household in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Indicators of poverty and food security were computed using Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and FANTA’s Household Dietary Diversity Scores (HDDS). The study relied on data obtained from the Nation-wide annual General household Survey carried out in 2014 having 3033 households sampled from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Poisson regression, Tobit regression and logistic regression models. The result of the Multidimensional Poverty Index headcount revealed that while majority (71.28 percent) of the households are not multidimensionaly poor, 20.51 percent, 6.89 percent and 1.32 percent are vulnerable to multidimensional poverty, multidimensionaly poor and severely multidimensionaly poor respectively. The study also revealed that while there is a significant differences between multidimensional poverty status in the both rural and urban area, there is no much differences when considering the gender of the household head. This indicates that poverty is still a rural phenomenon in the Province. Furthermore, the largest contributor (dimension and indicators) to household multidimensional poverty in the Province is standard of living dimension and specific indicator are the fuels use for cooking, water and space heating, toilet system, dwelling and asset accumulation are the most areas of highest deprivation. The household dietary diversity score show that household have a diverse diet with a mean score of 6.9; however the diversity is skewed toward food groups that do not give expected nutritional diets for a healthy and an economically active life. In General pulse diet and vegetables (spinach and wild green leaves) are least consumed in the province. Consumption of fruit is shown to be less consumed in the rural area as compared to the urban area. Descriptive analysis of livelihood diversification among households in the province revealed that majority of households are not diversified. Poisson regression estimate produced a good fit shown by the statistical insignificance of the deviance good of fit (p=1.09). Age of household head, population group of the head, education attainment of the head, engagement in agriculture, recipient of remittance and number of economic active member of the household) were found to be statistically significant (p<0.01) and were found to influence the probability of a household diversifying their livelihood base in the study area. The result of the Tobit regression on effect of livelihood diversification and other household socio-economic characteristics on household poverty suggest livelihood diversification has no statistically significant effect on the probability of being poor in the study area. Other variables found to influence poverty are, household head’s gender (male), age, education, employment status, access to electricity, engagement in agriculture, salary earning, economic active size of household and asset score) were found to be significantly (p<0.01) to influencing multidimensional poverty of the poor households. The result of the logistic regression indicates that livelihood diversification has no significant effect on the probability of a household being poor. Gender of head, age of household head, education attainment of the head, access to electricity, engagement in agriculture, recipients of pension, number of economic active and living in urban area were also found to be statistically significant in influencing household food insecurity in the province. The findings illustrates that livelihood diversification may not be relevant for household welfare in the case of South Africa. However promoting livelihood diversification remain imperative for household welfare in the South Africa in the long-run. It further illustrate that gender of head, education, access to electricity, home agriculture are imperative for the improvement of household welfare. Hence the study recommends policy relating to conditional granting of cash grant support, intensification of rural development programmes, education affordable and accessible at all level and support home stead or subsistence agriculture.
- Full Text:
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