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African Journal of
Microbiology Research Vol. 1 (6), 100-103,
November, 2007
ISSN 1996-0808 © 2007 Academic Journals
Full Length
Research Paper
Microbial community analysis of drinking water
sources from rural areas of Zimbabwe
Zvidzai C.1*, Mukutirwa T.2,
Mundembe R.2 and Sithole-Niang I.1
1Biochemistry Department, University
of Zimbabwe, Box MP167, Mt. Pleasant, Harare,
Zimbabwe
2Bindura University of Science and
Education, P. O. Box 1020,, Bindura, Zimbabwe.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
jzvidzai@science.uz.ac.zw.
Accepted 6 October, 2007
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Abstract |
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Traditional methods employing
selective, differential and non-selective media
were used to isolate and identify different
species of bacteria from rural drinking water
reservoirs of Mount Darwin district of Zimbabwe.
The colony counts from non-selective nutrient
agar plates gave an indication of the overall
level of bacterial activity from each water
sample. Open deep wells, shallow wells and
rivers were found to be the most heavily
contaminated water sources. Borehole water
sources had very low total microbial loads and
absent in some of the water samples. The
prevalent bacteria found were the Gram negative
Escherichia coli, Shigella, Salmonella,
Enterobacter aerogenes and one cocci species
that was not further characterized. The presence
of faecal pathogenic species in the river water
and open wells poses epidemiological cases of
diarrhoeal diseases in the district studied.
Key words:
Drinking water, microbial
analysis, faecal bacteria, bacteriophages,
phenotypic. |
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