Survival and distribution of Vibrio cholerae in a tropical rain forest stream

For 12 months Vibrio cholerae and fecal coliforms were monitored along with 9 other water quality parameters at 12 sites in a rain forest watershed in Puerto Rico. Densities of V. cholerae and fecal coliforms were not significantly correlated even though the highest densities of both bacteria were found at a sewage outfall. High densities of V. cholerae were also found at pristine sites high in the watershed. V. cholerae and Escherichia coli were inoculated into membrane diffusion chambers, placed at two sites and monitored for 5 days on two different occasions. Two different direct count methods indicated that the density of E. coli and V. cholerae did not change significantly during the course of either study. Physiological activity, as measured by INT-reduction and relative nucleic acid composition declined for E. coli during the first 12 h then increased and remained variable during the remainder of the study. V. cholerae activity, as measured by relative nucleic acid concentrations, remained high and unchanged for the entire study. INT-reduction in V. cholerae declined initially but regained nearly all of it`s original activity within 48 h. This study suggests that V. cholerae is an indigenous organism in tropical freshwaters and that assays other than fecal coliforms or E. coli must be used for assessing public health risk in tropical waters