Environmental factors and microbiological quality of drinking water in low-income cities, case of Madagascar

L’urbanisation est l’un des changements les plus importants du XXIème siècle, notamment pour les villes sub-sahariennes. Celles-ci doivent gérer leurs ressources naturelles. La ressource en eau, par exemple, devient de plus en plus vulnérable, soit parce qu’elle ne peut plus répondre aux différents besoins (population, industrie, agriculture) soit qu’elle est soumise à des pressions environnementales de plus en plus fortes. La pollution en continue par les eaux usées, les eaux de ruissellement et l’érosion des sols suggèrent que ces écosystèmes sont spécifiques. Dans les villes de pays à faible revenu, comme Madagascar, l’accès à l’eau potable est également limité à cause de contraintes techniques et environnementales.Comprendre comment ces changements environnementaux peuvent influer sur la qualité microbiologique devient alors un enjeu de Santé Publique, surtout dans un contexte où l’assainissement et la protection de la ressource ne sont pas maîtrisés. L’objectif est d’évaluer l’impact de l’urbanisation, ainsi que d’autres facteurs environnementaux sur la dynamique des indicateurs de contamination des eaux d’adduction des villes de Madagascar (i) de caractériser les interactions entre les conditions climatiques et la qualité de l’eau distribuée (ii).La dynamique des indicateurs bactériens de la qualité de l'eau fournie a été analysée sur le long terme (16 et 32 ans) à l'échelle des systèmes urbains et a montré que la contamination bactériologique de l'eau potable urbaine connaît de fortes variations saisonnières, avec des disparités selon les villes. Le type de ressource, le traitement mis en œuvre, la croissance démographique et les menaces environnementales liées à la dégradation des bassins urbains sont les principaux déterminants environnementaux et techniques qui soutiennent les profils de contamination. Les conditions climatiques, y compris les précipitations et la non-gestion des eaux de ruissellement, sont les principaux facteurs contribuant à l'instabilité biologique de ces systèmes d'approvisionnement urbains.Urbanization is one of the most important changes of the 21st century, especially for sub-Saharan cities. They must manage their natural resources. Water resources, for example, are becoming increasingly vulnerable, either because they can no longer meet the various needs (population, industry, agriculture) or because they are subject to ever-increasing environmental pressures. Continuous pollution by wastewater, runoff and soil erosion suggest that these ecosystems are specific. In cities in low-income countries, such as Madagascar, access to safe drinking water is also limited due to technical and environmental constraints.Understanding how these environmental changes can affect microbiological quality then becomes a public health issue, especially in a context where sanitation and resource protection are not controlled. The objective is to assess the impact of urbanization, as well as other environmental factors on the dynamics of the indicators of contamination of the supply water of Madagascar's cities (i); to characterize the interactions between climatic conditions and the quality of the distributed water (ii).The dynamics of bacterial indicators of water quality supplied have been analyzed over the long term (16 and 32 years) at the scale of urban systems and have shown that bacteriological contamination of urban drinking water is subject to wide seasonal variations, with disparities between cities. The type of resource, the treatment implemented, population growth and environmental threats related to the degradation of urban basins are the main environmental and technical determinants that support contamination profiles. Climatic conditions, including precipitation and non-management of runoff, are the main factors contributing to the biological instability of these urban supply systems from wastewater, runoff and soil erosion suggests that these ecosystems are specific

Facteurs environnementaux et qualité microbiologique de l'eau potable dans les villes à faible revenu, cas de Madagascar

Urbanization is one of the most important changes of the 21st century, especially for sub-Saharan cities. They must manage their natural resources. Water resources, for example, are becoming increasingly vulnerable, either because they can no longer meet the various needs (population, industry, agriculture) or because they are subject to ever-increasing environmental pressures. Continuous pollution by wastewater, runoff and soil erosion suggest that these ecosystems are specific. In cities in low-income countries, such as Madagascar, access to safe drinking water is also limited due to technical and environmental constraints.Understanding how these environmental changes can affect microbiological quality then becomes a public health issue, especially in a context where sanitation and resource protection are not controlled. The objective is to assess the impact of urbanization, as well as other environmental factors on the dynamics of the indicators of contamination of the supply water of Madagascar's cities (i); to characterize the interactions between climatic conditions and the quality of the distributed water (ii).The dynamics of bacterial indicators of water quality supplied have been analyzed over the long term (16 and 32 years) at the scale of urban systems and have shown that bacteriological contamination of urban drinking water is subject to wide seasonal variations, with disparities between cities. The type of resource, the treatment implemented, population growth and environmental threats related to the degradation of urban basins are the main environmental and technical determinants that support contamination profiles. Climatic conditions, including precipitation and non-management of runoff, are the main factors contributing to the biological instability of these urban supply systems from wastewater, runoff and soil erosion suggests that these ecosystems are specific.L’urbanisation est l’un des changements les plus importants du XXIème siècle, notamment pour les villes sub-sahariennes. Celles-ci doivent gérer leurs ressources naturelles. La ressource en eau, par exemple, devient de plus en plus vulnérable, soit parce qu’elle ne peut plus répondre aux différents besoins (population, industrie, agriculture) soit qu’elle est soumise à des pressions environnementales de plus en plus fortes. La pollution en continue par les eaux usées, les eaux de ruissellement et l’érosion des sols suggèrent que ces écosystèmes sont spécifiques. Dans les villes de pays à faible revenu, comme Madagascar, l’accès à l’eau potable est également limité à cause de contraintes techniques et environnementales.Comprendre comment ces changements environnementaux peuvent influer sur la qualité microbiologique devient alors un enjeu de Santé Publique, surtout dans un contexte où l’assainissement et la protection de la ressource ne sont pas maîtrisés. L’objectif est d’évaluer l’impact de l’urbanisation, ainsi que d’autres facteurs environnementaux sur la dynamique des indicateurs de contamination des eaux d’adduction des villes de Madagascar (i) de caractériser les interactions entre les conditions climatiques et la qualité de l’eau distribuée (ii).La dynamique des indicateurs bactériens de la qualité de l'eau fournie a été analysée sur le long terme (16 et 32 ans) à l'échelle des systèmes urbains et a montré que la contamination bactériologique de l'eau potable urbaine connaît de fortes variations saisonnières, avec des disparités selon les villes. Le type de ressource, le traitement mis en œuvre, la croissance démographique et les menaces environnementales liées à la dégradation des bassins urbains sont les principaux déterminants environnementaux et techniques qui soutiennent les profils de contamination. Les conditions climatiques, y compris les précipitations et la non-gestion des eaux de ruissellement, sont les principaux facteurs contribuant à l'instabilité biologique de ces systèmes d'approvisionnement urbains

Urbanization and waterborne pathogen emergence in low-income countries : where and how to conduct surveys ?

International audienceA major forthcoming sanitary issue concerns the apparition and spreading of drug-resistant microorganisms, potentially threatening millions of humans. In low-income countries, polluted urban runoff and open sewage channels are major sources of microbes. These microbes join natural microbial communities in aquatic ecosystems already impacted by various chemicals, including antibiotics. These composite microbial communities must adapt to survive in such hostile conditions, sometimes promoting the selection of antibiotic-resistant microbial strains by gene transfer. The low probability of exchanges between planktonic microorganisms within the water column may be significantly improved if their contact was facilitated by particular meeting places. This could be specifically the case within biofilms that develop on the surface of the myriads of floating macroplastics increasingly polluting urban tropical surface waters. Moreover, as uncultivable bacterial strains could be involved, analyses of the microbial communities in their whole have to be performed. This means that new-omic technologies must be routinely implemented in low- and middle-income countries to detect the appearance of resistance genes in microbial ecosystems, especially when considering the new 'plastic context.'We summarize the related current knowledge in this short review paper to anticipate new strategies for monitoring and surveying microbial communities

Environmental Factors and the Microbial Quality of Urban Drinking Water in a Low-Income Country: The Case of Madagascar

Access to piped water is often limited to urban areas in low-income countries, and the microbiological quality of drinking water varies due to technical and environmental constraints. To analyse the parameters that modulate the contamination of these systems, this study examines 16 years of microbial quality data for water supplied in 32 urban areas of Madagascar. A discriminant statistical approach and agglomerative hierarchical clusters were applied to environmental and climatic data. The microbial contamination varied between sites from 3.3 to 17.5%, and 78% of the supply systems showed large variations between years or months. Agglomerative hierarchical clusters (AHCs) revealed four supply system profiles that share a similar bacteriological evolution. Heavy rainfall and dry periods sustained increasing contamination, as reflected in levels of spores of sulphite-reducing clostridia (SSRC) and/or total coliforms (TC). SSRC were dominant in three profiles, with faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) dominant in the other. Principal component analysis demonstrated the main drivers of contamination: type of water source, implemented treatment, location of the site, population growth, lack of protection, agriculture, urbanization/sanitation, and flooding threats. Contamination increased over the 16-year period, reaching alarming levels. The protection of water sources should be a concern for public authorities

The impact of rainfall on drinking water quality in Antananarivo, Madagascar

Data Availability: The data underlying the results presented in the study are available from JIRAMA (http://www.jirama.mg/). They are pubic third party data available through regular request to the office. Requests can be sent to: [email protected]. The person in charge of the data is the head of the data unit: [email protected] audienceLow-income cities that are subject to high population pressure and vulnerable to climate events often have a low capacity to continuously deliver safe drinking water. Here we reported the results of a 32-year survey on the temporal dynamics of drinking water quality indicators in the city of Antananarivo. We analyzed the long-term evolution of the quality of the water supplied and characterized the interactions between climatic conditions and the full-scale water supply system. A total of 25,467 water samples were collected every week at different points in the supplied drinking water system. Samples were analyzed for total coliforms (TC), Escherichia coli (EC), intestinal Enterococci (IE), and Spores of Sulphite-Reducing Clostridia (SSRC). Nine-hundred-eighty-one samples that were identified as positive for one or more indicators were unevenly distributed over time. The breakpoint method identified four periods when the time series displayed changes in the level and profile of contamination (i) and the monthly pattern of contamination (ii), with more direct effects of rainfall on the quality of supplied drinking water. The modeling showed significantly different lags among indicators of bacteria occurrence after cumulative rainfall, which range from 4 to 8 weeks. Among the effects of low-income urbanization, a rapid demographic transition and the degradation of urban watersheds have gradually affected the quality of the water supplied and resulted in the more direct effects of rainfall events. We focused on the need to adopt an alternative perspective of drinking water and urban watersheds management

Genotype Diversity and Spread of White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) in Madagascar (2012–2016)

White Spot Disease (WSD) caused by the White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) is the most devastating viral disease threatening the shrimp culture industry worldwide, including Madagascar. WDS was first reported on the island in 2012; however, little is known about the circulation of the virus and its genetic diversity. Our study aimed at describing the molecular diversity and the spread of WSSV in the populations of Madagascan crustaceans. Farmed and wild shrimps were collected from various locations in Madagascar from 2012 to 2016 and were tested for WSSV. Amplicons from positive specimens targeting five molecular markers (ORF75, ORF94, ORF125, VR14/15 and VR23/24) were sequenced for genotyping characterizations. Four genotypes were found in Madagascar. The type-I genotype was observed in the south-west of Madagascar in April 2012, causing a disastrous epidemic, then spread to the North-West coast. Type-II strains were detected in October 2012 causing an outbreak in another Penaeus monodon farm. In 2014 and 2015, types II and III were observed in shrimp farms. Finally, in 2016, types II and IV were found in wild species including Fenneropenaeus indicus, Metapenaeus monoceros, Marsupenaeus japonicus and Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Considering the economic importance of the shrimp industry for Madagascar, our study highlights the need to maintain WSSV surveillance to quickly take appropriate countermeasures in case of outbreak and to sustain this industry

Risk factors for intestinal parasite portage in an informal suburb on the West coast of Madagascar

International audienceThe deprived area of the Metzinger Valley in the city of Mahajanga has many healthcare concerns due to repeated flooding during the rainy season. Improving this health situation requires a better knowledge of the pathogens present in this area and of the risk factors favoring their propagation. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between the household socioeconomic status and the presence of parasites in the faeces of children between 1 and 10 years of age in order to determine the risk factors for intestinal parasitosis. The study included 746 children, of whom 30% were infected with parasites. Entamoeba coli, a good indicator of environmental fecal contamination, was the most prevalent parasite with an observation frequency of 16.7% followed by Giardia lamblia with a prevalence of 10%. For helminths, Trichuris and Ascaris were the most prevalent respectively 5.4% and 1.8%. A large heterogeneity in the prevalence of parasites was observed from one neighborhood to another. However, multivariate analysis showed that these differences were not related to environmental factors or household structure, but rather to the economic level of the family, the education level of the mother as well as the age of the child. For example, the prevalence of Giardia decreased from 23.5% to 8% for children of mothers with little education to those with higher education, respectively. For E. coli, the prevalence is higher among poor households and school-aged children. In the frame of IRCOD project, mothers are being sensitized to hygiene and risk factors for transmission by intestinal parasites and the present study proposes a multidimensional approach as an assessment tool

How chromosomal deletions can unmask recessive mutations? Deletions in 10q11.2 associated with CHAT or SLC18A3 mutations lead to congenital myasthenic syndrome

International audienceA congenital myasthenia was suspected in two unrelated children with very similar phenotypes including several episodes of severe dyspnea. Both children had a 10q11.2 deletion revealed by Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms array or by Next Generation Sequencing analysis. The deletion was inherited from the healthy mother in the first case. These deletions unmasked a recessive mutation at the same locus in both cases, but in two different genes: CHAT and SLC18A3

Number of <i>Naegleria fowleri</i> isolated from the most frequented baths of Guadeloupe according to physicochemical characteristics (2011–12).

<p>Number of <i>Naegleria fowleri</i> isolated from the most frequented baths of Guadeloupe according to physicochemical characteristics (2011–12).</p

Survey of free-living amoeba isolated from geothermal recreational waters of Guadeloupe on a montly basis (2012).

<p><b>Sp.:</b> thermophilic amoebae non-Naegleria sp., <b>N.l</b> : Naegleria lovaniensis., <b>N.f</b> : Naegleria fowleri,</p><p>(n) number of amoebae per liter of water; (+ ou -) presence or absence in sediment or swab; (blank) not investigated.</p