Abstract
Water recreation, though increasing globally, is strongly associated with infectious diseases. Unexpectedly, artificial water recreation systems e.g. swimming pools account for 90% of these outbreaks. It is therefore essential that pool waters be regularly monitored for deviations from microbial water quality guidelines. To assess the sanitary quality of a club swimming pool in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, I used the multiple-tube fermentation technique to determine the most probable number (MPN) of coliform bacteria in 100 ml of pool water. MPN estimates ranged from 9 to 93 with geometric mean of 38. Escherichia coli was isolated from positive presumptive tubes, indicating recent faecal contamination. The isolate elicited similar biochemical reactions as reference E. coli (ATCC-25922), except that it utilized sucrose and liquefied gelatin, which probably indicates potential pathogenicity. Also, the E. coli isolate was resistant to 13 antibiotics from 9 different classes. Finally, coliform counts and detection of E. coli clearly violates international guidelines. I recommend that pool operators increase water disinfection efficiency and educate the public on the need for improved swimmer hygiene to reduce the risk of recreational water illness transmission.
Acknowledgements:
The author would like to thank the Microbiology department at Obafemi Awolowo University for granting access to the Staff Club swimming pool.
Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.
