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Human activities influence the presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria in indoor air. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the experimental rearing of European grayling and European perch in a recirculating aquaculture system on the contamination of indoor air with potentially pathogenic

Human activities influence the presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria in indoor air. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the experimental rearing of European grayling and European perch in a recirculating aquaculture system on the contamination of indoor air with potentially pathogenic Aeromonas hydrophila (PPAH) and the resulting health risks to humans. The PPAH counts, their resistance to seven antibiotics, and the multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index were determined in samples of indoor air and water from rearing tanks. The PPAH counts were highest in the laboratory bioaerosol where two fish species were reared. The calculated indoor/outdoor ratio (I/O > 1) demonstrated that tank water was the internal source of PPAH emissions. The unconstrained PCA revealed strong positive relationships (p ≤ 0.05) between the PPAH counts in the indoor air and water samples. Most of the PPAH strains isolated from laboratory air were resistant to tetracycline, cefotaxime, and erythromycin, and 26–82% of the isolates exhibited multiple drug resistance. The values of the MAR index were similar in samples of laboratory air and water (0.23–0.34 and 0.24–0.36, respectively). Agglomerative clustering revealed two clusters of strains isolated from laboratory air and tank water. The results of this study indicate that aquaculture can be a source of indoor air contamination with PPAH.

Fish feed should be characterized by microbiological stability to guarantee the optimal health of farmed fish. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of amaranth meal (Amaranthus cruentus) and a highly active environmental strain of probiotic bacteria, Carnobacterium maltaromaticum, as novel supplements that stabilize the quantitative and qualitative composition of microbiota in compound fish feeds for aquaculture, regardless of storage temperature. The total viable counts of mesophilic bacteria at 28 &deg, C (TVC 28 &deg, C), hemolytic mesophilic bacteria (Hem 37 &deg, C), Staphylococcus sp. bacteria, aerobic spore-forming bacteria (ASFB), sulfite-reducing anaerobic spore-forming Clostridium sp. bacteria, yeasts, and molds were analyzed in control feed (CF), in feed supplemented with amaranth meal (AF), and in feed supplemented with amaranth meal and C. maltaromaticum (ACF), stored at a temperature of 4 &deg, C and 20 &deg, C for 98 days. Amaranthus cruentus and C. maltaromaticum significantly reduced bacterial counts in fish feeds, regardless of the temperature and duration of storage. The antibacterial and antifungal effects of the tested additives were statistically significant (p &le, 0.05). The studied novel supplements contribute to the microbiological safety of compound fish feeds. The tested additives could be recognized as the key ingredients of organic, environmentally friendly fish feeds, which guarantee the high quality of fish intended for human consumption.

Restoring lakes with hypolimnetic withdrawal can severely threaten water quality and biocenosis downstream. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of lake restoration on riverine zooplankton during a period of intense hypolimnion water inflow. Zooplankton density and biomass were determined in water samples. The water samples were also analyzed to determine the following physicochemical parameters: flow rate, dissolved oxygen, hydrogen sulphide, sulphate, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total phosphorous, soluble reactive phosphorus, total organic carbon, and temperature. The results of multiple regression indicated that water flow was the most significant variable and was the best predictor of total zooplankton and rotifer density. Soluble reactive phosphorous was the main predictor of copepod biomass and density. Our study showed that hypolimnetic withdrawal disturbed the natural process of planktic community transformation, which was linked to the environmental shift from lacustrine to riverine. During the study, zooplankton density and biomass were low, but not as low as when the pipeline was operating at maximum output. At present, this lake restoration method has become more sustainable, because the adverse effects of hypolimnetic withdrawal on the recipient river have been minimized and limited to several weeks.

The article presents changes in the quantitative and qualitative composition of indicator bacteria in three Polish rivers – Vistula, Oder, and Łyna River – in the last 30 years. The analyzed rivers are situated in the catchment area of the Baltic Sea, and they play important economic, tourist and environmental roles. The sanitary and bacteriological status of these ecosystems was determined based on the counts of total coliform bacteria (TCB), fecal coliform bacteria (FCB), fecal enterococci bacteria (FEB), and Escherichia coli. The study involved a review of the literature and the reports published by Polish inspectorates of environmental protection. Water samples collected from all rivers in urban areas were characterized by the highest TCB, FCB, FEB, and E. coli counts throughout the analyzed period. High contamination levels contributed to epidemiological risks in rivers, in particular in the proximity of discharge points of treated effluents. As a result, most of the analyzed water samples were graded as purity class III and/or as non-class (polluted beyond permissible standards) waters. Since 2003, Polish laws have been harmonized with the provisions of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), and the range of indicator bacteria was restricted to FEB and E. coli only in water bodies used as sources of water for human consumption and/or for bathing. In Poland, treated wastewater does not have to be disinfected before it is discharged to surface waters. For this reason, contamination with indicator bacteria (TCB, FCB, FEB, and E. coli) continues to be high in water bodies that act as receptacles of wastewater despite considerable reduction of microbiological contamination (97–99%) in treated effluents. The above applies particularly to rivers where contamination spreads. For this reason, the concentration of indicator bacteria should be the main criterion in evaluations of river water purity.

Pseudomonas fluorescens and Aeromonas hydrophila bacteria are opportunistic pathogens that occur naturally in the aquatic environment and in the gut flora of healthy fish. Both species can pose a serious threat for fish that are highly sensitive to water pollution. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which the amount of administered fish feed and fish biomass affect the distribution and abundance of Ps. fluorescens and A. hydrophila bacteria in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) during farming of European grayling (Thymallus thymallus L.) broodstock. A total of 68 water samples from the inflow, two rearing tanks and the outflow as well as 17 feed samples were collected and analyzed separately. Bacterial populations were analyzed by the culture-dependent method and a molecular method (fluorescence in situ hybridization, FISH) to detect culturable strains and viable but non-culturable strains, respectively. Fish biomass, feed and 16 water quality parameters (temperature, pH, concentration of dissolved oxygen, oxygen saturation, five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total phosphorus, total organic phosphorus and nitrogen, orthophosphates, total nitrogen, nitrite and nitrate nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, total suspended solids, and total organic carbon) were the explanatory factors. Statistically significant differences (RM-ANOVA, p ≤ 0.05) were stated in bacterial abundance in samples from the inflow, rearing tanks and the outflow. Water samples from the RAS were abundantly colonized by non-culturable Ps. fluorescens and A. hydrophila bacteria. Feed was not a source of bacteria, but a redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that the amount of feed, fish biomass, BOD5, and total suspended solids and total organic carbon were positively correlated in both Ps. fluorescens and A. hydrophila. These parameters also influenced the distribution of both potentially pathogenic bacterial populations and contributed to the bacterial contamination of water in the RAS. Our results are particularly valuable for aquacultures that help to replenish wild stocks and rebuild populations of threatened species in natural aquatic environments.

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a fish farm on the structure of antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in water of Drwęca River. Samples of upstream river waters; post-production waters and treated post-production waters from fish farm; as well as downstream river waters were monitored for tetracycline resistant bacteria, tetracycline resistant genes, basic physico-chemical parameters and tetracyclines concentration. The river waters was characterized by low levels of pollution, which was determined based on water temperature, pH and concentrations of dissolved oxygen and tetracycline antibiotics. Culture-dependent (heterotrophic plate counts, counts of bacteria resistant to oxytetracycline (OTC(R)) and doxycycline (DOX(R)), minimum inhibitory concentrations for oxytetracycline and doxycycline, multidrug resistance of OTC(R) and DOX(R), qualitative composition of OTC(R) and DOX(R), prevalence of tet genes in resistant isolates) and culture-independent surveys (quantity of tet gene copies) revealed no significant differences in the abundance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes between the studied samples. The only way in which the fish farm influenced water quality in the Drwęca River was by increasing the diversity of tetracycline-resistance genes. However, it should also be noted that the bacteria of the genera Aeromonas sp. and Acinetobacter sp. were able to transfer 6 out of 13 tested tet genes into Escherichiacoli, which can promote the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment.

The effects of five towns on river water pollution were examined along the Łyna River (southern watershed of the Baltic Sea, northern Poland). The relationships among the spatially derived indicators of urbanization, environmental variables, and physico-chemical and microbiological data (heterotrophic plate count at 22 and 37 °C, and fecal coli) obtained from longitudinal river profiling have been examined with the use of multivariate analyses such as principal component analysis with factor analysis (PCA/FA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). We recognized the river channel as an environmental path that links serial urban areas into an "urban river continuum." An overall increasing trend in nutrients and indicator bacteria from suburban headwaters to urbanized sections of the river was detected despite a significant decrease in those between the towns. We concluded that the role of a multicity is equally as important as a single urban area in predicting the impacts of man-made pollutants on river water quality.

Experiments were conducted to study the airborne microbial contamination generated by a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Aerosol samples were collected simultaneously, by sedimentation and impact methods, from the area and the surroundings of the WWTP. Total colony forming units (CFUs) of heterotrophic bacteria (HPC), as well as members of the Enterobacteriaceae, staphylococci, enterococci, actinomycetes, and microscopic fungi were determined. Bacterial (HPC) concentrations ranged between 101 and 104 CFU/m3, fungi 0 and 104 CFU/m3. Higher numbers of HPC bacteria in air samples were observed in summer, fungi in autumn. The main emission of microorganisms to atmospheric air was from the mechanical sewage treatment devices of the WWTP. The facilities of the biological sewage treatment of the plant did not generate large amounts of bioaerosols. In the air obtained from the premises of the WWTP, 25 species of the Enterobacteriaceae were isolated (Salmonella spp., Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli). At the fence and in the surroundings only Pantoea spp. were identified. This suggests that the sewage bacteria were mainly discharged in the area of the WWTP. The presence of enteric bacteria, especially Enterobacteriaceae reflects the level of air pollution with bioaerosols from sewage and is an important factor during monitoring the quality of the air around WWTPs.

Aeromonas hydrophila is a valuable indicator of the quality of water polluted by sewage and pathogens that pose a risk for humans and cold-blooded animals, including fi sh. The main aim of this research was to evaluate anthropogenic pollution of river water based on genetic diversity of 82 A. hydrophila strains by means of RAPD, semi-random AP-PCR (ISJ) and the rep-BOX conservative repeats test. Genetic diversity of A. hydrophila was HT = 0.28 (SD = 0.02) for all DNA markers (RAPD, semi random and rep-BOX). None of the analyzed electrophoretic patterns was identical, implying that there were many sources of strain transmission. The presence of genes for aerolysin (aerA), hemolysin (ahh1) and the cytotoxic enzyme complex (AHCYTOGEN) was verifi ed for all tested strains, and drug resistance patterns for tetracycline, enrofl oxacin and erythromycin were determined. The most diverse A. hydrophila strains isolated from river water were susceptible to enrofl oxacine (HS = 0.27), whereas less diverse strains were susceptible to erythromycin (HS = 0.24). The presence of the multidrug resistance marker (ISJ4-25; 1100 bp locus) in the examined strains (resistant to three analyzed drugs) indicates that intensive fi sh cultivation affects the microbiological quality of river water.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of lake restoration by the hypolimnetic withdrawal method on the intensity of ambient odour in the vicinity of the pipeline outlet. The study was carried out in 2012-2013 from the beginning of the summer stagnation period in Lake Kortowskie to complete overturn in fall. Samples of river water and ambient air were collected from two sites: near the pipeline outlet (PO) and behind the academic campus (AC). A total of 44 air samples and 44 water samples were analysed. Odour intensity was measured in samples of ambient air. The following physicochemical parameters of water were determined: flow rate, dissolved oxygen (DO), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), sulphate (SO4), ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N), total nitrogen (TN), dissolved nitrogen (DN), total particulate nitrogen (T-PN), total organic carbon (TOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total particulate organic carbon (T-POC). Water samples were also analysed to determine total bacterial abundance (TBA) and the counts of bacterial rods, cocci and spiral-shaped bacteria, and sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). Significant variations in odour intensity were noted between years and sampling sites. Odour was significantly determined by the proportion of lake water in river water. It was also significantly correlated (P2S, NH4-N, TBA and counts of SRB, rod- and spiral-shaped bacteria only in.

The objective of this study was to determine the suitability of TetR tetracycline-resistant bacteria as potential indicators of drug resistance, a parameter of the microbiological quality of river waters in natural reserves which are threatened by man-made pollution. The microbiological assays covered a 15-km long section of the upper reach of the Drweca River (Poland), a part of the European Ecological “Natura 2000” Network of nature protected areas. The quality of the investigated ecosystem was affected by surface runoffs from the river's agricultural catchment as well as outflows from three fish farms. The counts of TetR bacteria, incubated at 14 °C and 28 °C on TSA medium with sheep blood and tetracycline, were determined in river water samples. The highest counts of both bacterial groups were determined in samples collected from sites behind fish farms. A statistical analysis of the abundance of TetR14 °C and TetR28 °C bacteria revealed significant differences in the size of TetR28 °C populations at the studied sampling sites (p = 0.0011), which is why hemolytic bacteria of this group (HemTetR28 °C) were selected for further investigations. The predominant strains in the group of 86 HemTetR28 °C isolates obtained by 16S rRNA gene sequencing were Pseudomonas fluorescens (42 isolates) and Aeromonas hydrophila (28 isolates). Analyses of the identified HemTetR28 °C strains demonstrated MIC ≥256 μg/ml in more than 50% isolates. The MAR index of HemTetR28 °C was in the range of 0.67 at the control site to 1 at sites behind fish farms. The results suggest that tetracycline-resistant bacteria, in particular HemTetR28 °C, are a reliable indicator of antimicrobial resistance and the microbial quality of surface waters polluted due to human activity. The above can be attributed to several factors: (I) the highest percentage share of HemTetR28 °C among HPC28 °C was noted at sites behind fish farms, (II) tetracycline-resistant bacteria quickly respond to environmental changes, as demonstrated by the high level of resistance to tetracycline and a very high MAR index, and (III) genera/species that are easy to culture under laboratory conditions dominate in the qualitative and quantitative composition of the studied bacteria.

The aim of the study was to determine the effects of land use management on changes in the fecal contamination of water in the Łyna River, one of the main lowland watercourses in the southern watershed of the Baltic Sea (northern Poland). A total of 120 water samples were collected in different seasons of 2011 and 2012 at 15 sites where the river intersected forest (FA), agricultural (AA), and urbanized (UA) areas. Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), the counts of Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia coli, total bacterial counts (TBCs), and domain Bacteria (EUB338) were determined by culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. Temperature, pH, chemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, ammonia nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, orthophosphate, and total phosphorus were also determined. The lowest bacterial counts were noted in water samples collected in FA, and the highest in samples collected in UA. Statistically significant differences were determined between bacterial populations across the analyzed land use types and in different sampling seasons. Significant correlations were also observed between the populations of FIB and physicochemical parameters. The results indicate that land use type influenced FIB concentrations in river water. The combined use of conventional and molecular methods improves the accuracy of fecal contamination analyses in river ecosystems.

The aim of this study was to identify tetracycline resistance determinants that could be used as molecular indicators of anthropogenic changes in aquatic environments. Two parallel approaches were used to examine the prevalence of tet genes: a culture-based method involving standard PCR and a method relying on quantitative PCR. The studied site was the Łyna River in Olsztyn (Poland). The culture-dependent method revealed that the concentrations of doxycycline-resistant bacteria harboring the tet(B) gene were higher in wastewater and downstream river samples than in upstream water samples. The tet(B) gene was transferred from environmental bacteria to Escherichia coli. The results generated by the culture-independent method validated statistically significant differences in tet(B) concentrations between upstream and downstream river sections, and revealed that tet(B) levels were correlated with the presence of other tetracycline resistance genes, dissolved oxygen concentrations, temperature and doxycycline concentrations in water. Our findings indicate that doxycycline-resistant bacteria, in particular E. coli harboring tet(B) or increased concentrations of tet(B), are potentially robust indicators of changes in water environments.

Bacteriological analyses were carried out at the Experimental Stocking Station in Dgal, Institute of Inland Fisheries in Olsztyn, during the rearing of a hybrid of bester (a hybrid of: great sturgeon – Huso huso L. with sterliad – Acipenser ruthenus L.) with sterliad (Acipenser ruthenus L.) in fl ow tanks with a closed water system. A statistical analysis of the results obtained demonstrated signifi cant differences (p