Objective To investigate the microbial contamination of houshold drainpipe and summarize the characteristics.
Methods A total of 120 households in Shanghai were selected in September 2008 to inspect the hydroseals and test the level of bacterial contamination, including total bacterial count, fungal genus, saccharomycete, coliform, and staphylococcus aureus. The sum rank test and χ2 test were used to analyze the data.
Results It was found that 57.5% of the inspected homes had experienced the clogged drain pipes, while 85.3% even had no water in the hydroseals. The testing results showed a comparatively high level of bacterial contamination in household drainpipe. The medians of bacterial count of different locations of pipes were detected between 318 310 to 2 745 423 cfu/cm2, while the highest count reached 107 cfu/cm2. The bacterial levels of total bacterial count, fungal genus, saccharomycete, and staphylococcus aureus among different drain pipes were found of significant differences(P<0.01); meanwhile, the significant differences also existed in several testing items between outlets and pipelines of the same drain pipes(P<0.05). In addition, the study showed that aeromonas hydrophila, enterobacter cloacae, genus bacillus, klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae, and pseudomonas aeruginosa were five microbes which were most frequently detected in household drainpipe.
Conclusion Hygienic problems were found in household drainpipe which were severely contaminated by microbes; the walls of drain pipes had a higher level of microbial contamination than the outlets, and the drain pipes in kitchens were found worst contaminated. Since the household drainpipe were mainly contaminated by the opportunistic pathogens, it suggested that regular monitoring should be enhanced.
DownLoad: