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Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a gram -ve rod shaped bacterium that is naturally found in many types of drinking water. According to European water regulations, it is a requirement to have Pseudomonas aeruginosa absent in a 250 ml sample of bottled water. Unfortunately no such regulation exists in the United States and other developed countries. Apparently, the Pseudomonas aeruginosa regulation in Europe originated as a quality control issue and not as a health effects issue.

Interestingly during the last 10 years, there have been an increase in the number of papers appearing indicating that Pseudomonas aeruginosa from drinking water is a health threat. This can only happen if the levels are high.

Being psychrotrophic, a food microbiologist will think it’s more a food spoilage issue than a health threat. The clinical microbiologist will think it is an opportunistic bacterium and can lead to a health threat. So where does this bacterium come from?

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous environmental bacterium. It can be recovered, often in high numbers, in common food, especially vegetables. Moreover, it can be recovered in low numbers in drinking water. A small percentage of clones of Pseudomonas aeruginosa possess the required number of virulence factors to cause infection. As an opportunistic bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa will not proliferate on normal tissue but requires previously damaged organs.

By further narrowing down the risk to human health, only certain specific hosts are at risk. They include patients with profound neutropenia, cystic fibrosis, severe burns, and those subject to foreign device installation. Other than these very well defined groups, the general population is normally immune to infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Although it is ubiquitous nature, there are ways to eliminate Pseudomonas aeruginosa from our food and drinking water. They include cooking foods properly, filtering or boiling drinking water.

If you are interesting in finding out the levels of Pseudomonmas aeruginosa in your water supply for food, I suggest you contact a reputable water microbiology laboratory.

Severe Infections Caused by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. Perspectives on Critical Care Infectious Diseases, Band 7 Severe Infections Caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa emphasizes controversies worldwide in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention and pathogenesis of pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. By including both chapters written by European authors and chapters written by North American experts, the reader is ensured of receiving a broad spectrum of opinions on controversial topics. Special attention is paid to such topics as the diagnosis of hospital-acquired pneumonia caused by p. aeruginosa, scheduled antibiotic therapy for patients with cystic fibrosis, empiric therapy for febrile neurotropenic patients, combination vs. single agent antibiotic therapy for severely ill patients, and alternatives to conventional antibiotic therapies. This excellent overview of our current understanding of pseudomonas aeruginosa pathogenesis will prove useful to clinicians and microbiologists around the globe. TOC:Contributors.- Preface.- Series Preface.- 1. Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infections in Specific Types of Patients and Clinical Set, Medical / Nursing ; infectious & contagious diseases ; medical microbiology & virology ; Infectious Diseases ; Microbiology, Severe Infections Caused by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. Perspectives on Critical Care Infectious Diseases, Band 7