Staphylococcus aureus —An Additional Parameter of Bathing Water Quality for Crowded Urban Beaches

Nancy Topić, Arijana Cenov, Slaven Jozić, Marin Glad, Diana Mance, Dražen Lušić, Damir Kapetanović, Davor Mance and Darija Vukić Lušić
Additional contact information
Nancy Topić: Department of Environmental Health, Teaching Institute of Public Health of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Krešimirova 52a, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Arijana Cenov: Department of Environmental Health, Teaching Institute of Public Health of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Krešimirova 52a, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Slaven Jozić: Laboratory of Microbiology, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, P.O. Box 500, 21000 Split, Croatia
Marin Glad: Department of Environmental Health, Teaching Institute of Public Health of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Krešimirova 52a, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Diana Mance: Department of Physics, University of Rijeka, Radmile Matejčić 2, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Dražen Lušić: Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Braće Branchetta 20, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Damir Kapetanović: Ruđer Bošković Institute, Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Bijenička Cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Davor Mance: Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Ivana Filipovića 4, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Darija Vukić Lušić: Department of Environmental Health, Teaching Institute of Public Health of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Krešimirova 52a, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: During the last years, the report of the occurrence of waterborne disease symptoms related to non-enteric pathogens has increased, without any record of higher levels of indicator bacteria ( Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci). Therefore, the use of current indicators is not always adequate when assessing the overall potential health risk and the inclusion of additional parameters needs to be examined. This paper reports on the incidence and levels of Staphylococcus aureus at 258 locations in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (Croatia) recorded by official bathing water quality monitoring, as well as supplemental monitoring carried out at the two most frequented beaches in the City of Rijeka. The number of bathers was found to be the main factor affecting S. aureus levels (r = 0.321, p < 0.05). The share of S. aureus positive samples from the official monitoring was significantly lower, when compared to the share of samples from supplemental monitoring (2.2% and 36.3%, respectively; p < 0.01). Besides the number of bathers, one of the main reasons is likely the higher sampling frequency. No correlation was found between S. aureus levels and the indicator bacteria. The results indicate that the determination of S. aureus and increased sampling frequency is recommended for overcrowded beaches.

Keywords: bathing water quality; crowded beaches; fecal indicator bacteria; Staphylococcus aureus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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