The drinking water is one of the main sources of
infectious diseases. It is of major importance to keep a
good water quality monitoring. The need for more rapid,
sensitive and specific tests is essential; not only for
water industry, but for a better public safety. Therefore,
detection of microbial indicators of potential pathogens
in water is the solution to the prevention and recognition
of problems related to human health and safety. The
main purpose of this work is to develop commercial kits
for the detection of the extensively used as indicator
organisms: Escherichia coli and total coliforms. An
enzymatic method of detection of these microorganisms
is being developed based on the enzymes β-Dglucuronidase
and β-D-galactosidase, respectively. The
results are visible in 18 h for 1 CFU. In order to achieve
a higher level of sensitivity and specificity, molecular
detection using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
technique is being investigated. Three primers were
selected for identification of total coliforms, E. coli and
E. coli with other enteric pathogens. At this moment, we
achieved a sensitivity level of 676 CFU in 8 h, which is
already a good achievement but there is still more
research to be done in order to accomplish the 1 CFU
detection
