Evaluation anthropic fecal contamination through enteropathogenic genera identification in Sontecomapan coastal lagoon, Veracruz

Résumé 0

Sontecomapan Lagoon is a coastal system located in the Gulf of Mexico which during the late years of the 20th century was equally considered either as a referent of a pristine site or as a man-affected system. Adding to this uncertainty, there are no published references on the microbiological quality of its water. With this purpose, fecal pollution was assessed through the spatial and temporal distributions of total fecal coliforms and enteropathogenic bacteria genera, which were analysed through four surveys (March and September, 2009, January and May, 2010), from ten sampling stations. Total heterotrophic bacteria were simultaneously determined, as well as some physical and chemical variables, and chlorophyll a, to assess the prevailing environmental conditions. Fecal coliform densities surpass the permissible levels and the presence of enteropathogenic genera Salmonella and Shigella poses a further alert. Multivariate analysis (cluster analysis and principal component analysis) highlighted the relation between the abundance and distribution of fecal coliform and enteropathogenic bacteria to the influence of human settlements and livestock husbandry, as well as the lack of correlation between total heterotrophic bacteria and coliform bacteria.