A. Barra Caracciolo

Pharmaceutical waste disposal: assessment of its effects on bacterial communities in soil and groundwater

A preliminary ecological characterisation of an open quarry that had been used for the disposal of pharmaceutical wastes from a factory producing antibiotics was performed. Pharmaceutical wastes and groundwater samples were collected and analysed in order to assess both the bacterial community structure and functioning, and the contamination by organic compounds, including antibiotics. Bacterial abundance measured using the epifluorescence direct count method, cell viability measured by using two fluorescent dyes, species diversity measured by assessing the bacterial community structure using fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and soil microbial activity based on dehydrogenase activity were used as microbiological indicators to evaluate the ‘quality state’ of the area studied. The overall results show that groundwater has a low-quality state in terms of bacterial viability, activity and diversity, associated with trace contamination by antibiotics and chlorinated volatile organics.

Microbial degradation of two carbamate insecticides and their main metabolites in soil

Degradation studies in soil of the insecticides aldicarb and carbofuran and their metabolites (aldicarb sulfoxide, aldicarb sulfone; 3-ketocarbofuran and 3-hydroxycarbofuran) were carried out using laboratory systems under controlled conditions (temperature, water content, light). The insecticides were added to soil samples and subsamples of the soil were analyzed at different times to assess both the bacterial abundance and the concentration of the different chemicals. The epifluorescence direct count method was applied to the subsamples to estimate microorganism numbers (N/g soil). Untreated samples of soil were used as controls for evaluating the effects of the application of the insecticides on microbial abundance. Subsamples treated with the pesticides were analyzed using HPLC and the DT 50 s of the different compounds studied were calculated. The DT 50 values show that neither the parent compounds nor the transformation products have a high persistence in soil and there is a general increase in the concentration of microorganisms as the pesticides diminish.

The impact of anthropogenic pressure on the virological quality of water from the Tiber River, Italy

The objective of the present study was to assess the occurrence of major waterborne enteric viruses (enterovirus, norovirus, adenovirus, rotavirus, hepatitis A and E virus) along the Tiber River in Italy, in areas affected by different kinds of anthropogenic pressure (agricultural, urban, industrial and pristine). Moreover, in light of the recent abundant detection of human bocavirus in urban wastewater samples in Italy, the occurrence of this virus was also assessed. Virus detection was based on nested PCR followed by sequencing, and on real‐time PCR. A correlation with anthropogenic pressure was observed. The urban and industrial areas were the most contaminated (100 and 75% of samples were positive for at least one virus respectively). The agricultural area was less contaminated, with 50% of samples positive. None of the samples collected in a pristine area were positive for viruses. The most frequently detected virus was human bocavirus, identified in 37·5% of samples, followed by norovirus and enterovirus (28% each) and adenovirus (21·6%). Rotavirus, and hepatitis A and E viruses were less common (<9%). Although Human Bocavirus is not considered a waterborne pathogen, the widespread contamination of river waters suggests that virus transmission via the water route should not be neglected.