A common surveillance tool for waterborne pathogens
is needed to reduce public health emergencies by standardizing
methodologies and validation at international
level. Conventional methods for detection and enumeration
of bacterial pathogens are based on the use of selective
culture and biochemical methods, requiring 4–7 days to
perform, and are costly. Typically, methods for isolating
any target bacteria from water involve concentration, enrichment,
isolation and identification in a well-established
laboratory
. Due to these difficulties, examination of water
samples for emerging pathogens is normally not performed
during routine microbiological assessment of water
quality, hence creating the potential for public infection.
Nucleic acid-based tests to identify pathogens rapidly
and reliably have been implemented in the microbiology
laboratory during the last decade