Description

Many coastal cities around the world discharge their wastewaters into the marine environment. These wastewaters contain a high variety of pathogenic microorganisms that would have a role in the contamination of this ecosystem and may have potential risks for public health and environment. Using an environmental approach, we investigate the presence of Salmonella in wastewater treatment plants and its presence after the treatment in its receiving marine environment. In this environmental approach, we provide information about the inefficiency of wastewater treatment to remove Salmonella, especially that wastewater is considered as a good tank of high diversity of Salmonella serotypes. The identified Salmonella serotypes in the receiving marine environment almost coincide with those identified in wastewater. This characterization of Salmonella strains from wastewater and marine environment involves the direct impact of municipal wastewater discharges on this environment. Antibiotic susceptibility tests reveal generally the presence of multiresistant Salmonella strains in wastewater, which usually end up in the marine environment and may have a significant risk on the public health.

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