ArticleApplied and environmental microbiology2007
Survival of Mycobacterium avium, Legionella pneumophila, Escherichia coli, and caliciviruses in drinking water-associated biofilms grown under high-shear turbulent flow.
Article in Applied and environmental microbiology, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed.
- Impact of flushing procedures on drinking water biostability and invasion susceptibility in distribution systems.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Membrane filtration reduces nutrient availability and invasion potential in drinking water systems, without affecting mature biofilms.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- The hidden dancers in water: the symbiotic mystery ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
- Dynamics of drinking water biofilm formation associated with Legionella spp. colonization.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2024Article
- Impact of operational conditions on drinking water biofilm dynamics and coliform invasion potential.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Article
- The Impact of Pipe Material on the Diversity of Microbial Communities in Drinking Water Distribution Systems.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Bacterial Genes Encoding Resistance Against Antibiotics and Metals in Well-Maintained Drinking Water Distribution Systems in Finland.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Effect of Nonphosphorus Corrosion Inhibitors on Biofilm Pore Structure and Mechanical Properties.Environmental science & technology · 2020Article
- Two Drinking Water Outbreaks Caused by Wastewater Intrusion Including Sapovirus in Finland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- Chlorine and Monochloramine Disinfection ofApplied and environmental microbiology · 2019Article
- Detection of Pathogenic and Non-pathogenic Bacteria in Drinking Water and Associated Biofilms on the Crow Reservation, Montana, USA.Microbial ecology · 2018Article
- Persistent Norovirus Contamination of Groundwater Supplies in Two Waterborne Outbreaks.Food and environmental virology · 2018Article
- Factors Mediating Environmental Biofilm Formation byFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2018Review
- Effect of temperature and colonization of Legionella pneumophila and Vermamoeba vermiformis on bacterial community composition of copper drinking water biofilms.Microbial biotechnology · 2017Article
- Methodological approaches for monitoring opportunistic pathogens in premise plumbing: A review.Water research · 2017Review
- Infection Sources of a Common Non-tuberculous Mycobacterial Pathogen,Frontiers in medicine · 2017Review
- Microbial analysis of in situ biofilm formation in drinking water distribution systems: implications for monitoring and control of drinking water quality.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2016Article
- Contamination of Hospital Water Supplies in Gilan, Iran, with Legionella pneumophila, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases · 2015Article
- Detection of Legionella, L. pneumophila and Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) along potable water distribution pipelines.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Most of the bacteria in drinking water distribution systems are associated with biofilms. In biofilms, their nutrient supply is better than in water, and biofilms can provide shelter against disinfection. We used a Propella biofilm reactor for studying the survival of Mycobacterium avium, Legionella pneumophila, Escherichia coli, and canine calicivirus (CaCV) (as a surrogate for human norovirus) in drinking water biofilms grown under high-shear turbulent-flow conditions. The numbers of M. avium and L. pneumophila were analyzed with both culture methods and with peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) methods. Even though the numbers of pathogens in biofilms decreased during the experiments, M. avium and L. pneumophila survived in biofilms for more than 2 to 4 weeks in culturable forms. CaCV was detectable with a reverse transcription-PCR method in biofilms for more than 3 weeks. E. coli was detectable by culture for only 4 days in biofilms and 8 days in water, suggesting that it is a poor indicator of the presence of certain waterborne pathogens. With L. pneumophila and M. avium, culture methods underestimated the numbers of bacteria present compared to the FISH results. This study clearly proved that pathogenic bacteria entering water distribution systems can survive in biofilms for at least several weeks, even under conditions of high-shear turbulent flow, and may be a risk to water consumers. Also, considering the low number of virus particles needed to result in an infection, their extended survival in biofilms must be taken into account as a risk for the consumer.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.