Survival Kinetics of Vibrio Species in a Tropical Estuary along the Southwest coast of India - as a function of selected Environmental Factors
Survival Kinetics of Vibrio Species in a Tropical Estuary along the Southwest coast of India - as a function of selected Environmental Factors
Date
2021
Authors
Silvester, Reshma
Antony, Ally C.
Yousuf, Jesmi
Madhavan, Ajin
Sooria, P. M.
Kokkat, Aswin
Harikrishnan, M.
Hatha, Mohamed
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Society of Fisheries Technologists (India)
Abstract
Vibrio species, autochthonous to aquatic environments
worldwide, comprises of various species
causing serious infections in humans and aquatic
animals. Studying the survival ability of pathogenic
Vibrio spp. in the aquatic environments is significant
to identify the risk posed by them to aquatic animals
as well as the recreational users of the system.
However, in spite of their public health significance,
the removal kinetics of this organism are not studied
in detail from Cochin estuary, a highly productive
estuarine system along the south-west coast of India.
Here we aim to study the survival kinetics of
pathogenic Vibrio spp. (V. parahaemolyticus, V. mimicus,
V. proteolyticus, V. alginolyticus and V. vulnificus) in
the estuary as a function of biological and physicochemical
factors based on microcosm experiments.
All the five Vibrio spp. showed prolonged and better
survival in the estuarine sediment compared to
water. This indicates that the sediments of Cochin
estuary may act as permanent repository of this
bacterium and is a matter of serious concern.
Biological factors and chemical composition of
estuarine water revealed to play a significant role
in the removal of Vibrios from the estuarine
environment. Exposure to sunlight also exhibited deleterious effect on the survival of these organisms.
Thus, our overall findings reveal that the estuarine
system has a self-purifying capacity to control the
pathogens such as Vibrio. However, entry of high
load of pathogens into the system through pollution
and anthropogenic activities may disrupt this
balance.
Description
Keywords
Survival ability, Vibrio, Environmental factors, Sunlight