METHOD FOR DETECTION OF ACTIVE NON-CULTIVABLE BACTERIA USING LYTIC BACTERIOPHAGE AND EVALUATION OF BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF TREATED WATER

摘要

Generally in order to evaluate. the germicidal efficiency of one disinfection system, we determine the abatement of viable bacteria before and after physical or chemical treatment. However, the simple count of viable and cultivable bacteria in usual or specific growth media is too far to reflect the real efficiency of disinfection system. Indeed, there is a mix bacterial state in the treated water: dead, viable and cultivable bacteria (VBNC) and viable but non cultivable bacteria (VBNC). This last type of bacteria can constitute a major risk considering public health aspect. In fact, VBNC bacteria can be active and can cause diseases. Consequently, the combination of the conventional method commonly used to assess the colony-forming ability and of the new one by determining the bacterial infectivity using a lytic bacteriophage; allows the detection of active bacteria, which lose the cultivability but keeping the phage susceptibility.