ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF Clostridium SPECIES AS AN INDICATOR OF MICROBIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF WATER (GROUND AND WELL SOURCES) IN BENIN CITY

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to isolate and identify Clostridium species obtained from water samples in different locations or points. Nine samples were collected from Oredo LGA (Ekosodin, New Benin, and Uselu) and Ovia North-East LGA (BDPA, Isihor, Oluku, UNIBEN and Wasota). Physicochemical assessment was carried out for the samples while cultural methods were used for the determination of anaerobic bacterial counts, and biochemical properties. The phenotypic virulence determinants and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were also carried out using standard microbiological technique. The results revealed that the pH ranged from 6.06 - 7.59, while temperature (25.3 - 29.4 oC), electrical conductivity (13 – 159 µS/cm), turbidity (0.21 – 1.83 NTU), total suspended solid (0.23 – 0.98 mg/ml), Alkalinity (0.12 – 0.50), Hardness (1.05 – 2.95 mg/ml), Phosphate (0.1 – 1.99 mg/L), Nitrate (0.03 – 1.05 mg/L), and Sulphate (0.12 – 1.0 mg/L) were within acceptable range delineated by world health organization for drinking water. The bacteriological analysis of water samples showed that the anaerobic bacterial count was found to range from 13.50±2.12 cfu/100ml to 81.00±4.24 cfu/100ml. The identified anaerobic bacterial isolates were Clostridium butyricum, Clostridium septicum, and Clostridium perfringens. The highest-occurring bacterial isolates from the anaerobes obtained from water samples were Clostridium butryricum (50.00%) and C. septicum (27.78%) in the study. The phenotypic virulence properties of the anaerobic bacterial isolates showed that they had at all virulence determinants evaluated in the study. The bacteria possessed hemolysin proteins as well as DNAse enzyme. The antibacterial sensitivity testing revealed that all isolates were susceptible to gentamicin, metronidazole, erythromycin and clindamycin while resistance was widely observed for colistin. It was also evident that they were found to have an MAR index greater than 0.2 which means that the isolates were all pathogens of public health importance.