Dr Louise O'Connor and Dr Zina Alfahl. Image: Martina Regan
The team claims their device can get results in 40 minutes, compared to days or weeks of traditional lab sample testing.
Researchers from the University of Galway have developed a portable water tester that can quickly detect a dangerous type of bacteria.
The researchers said their device is a “significant advancement” for on-site water testing and claim it can get results in 40 minutes, compared to days or weeks of traditional lab sample testing.
The team have created the device to test for Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli – STEC for short – which produces the harmful Shiga toxin. This toxin can cause severe stomach illnesses if ingested by humans and can lead to life-threatening complications for some people, particularly young children, the elderly and those who are immunocompromised.
Ireland has had the highest incidence rates of STEC in Europe in previous years, so the Galway researchers – Dr Zina Alfahl and Dr Louise O’Connor – aimed to develop a fast and accurate method to test STEC in water sources, such as rivers, lakes and wells.
“We are hoping that environmental health officers and groundwater schemes in Ireland could use the technology on-site allowing for more frequent testing especially in or after extreme weather, periods of intense rainfall, because it is those conditions which lead to water supplies being contaminated,” Alfahl said.
As part of a study funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the researchers used their device to test samples from various water sources including groundwater wells, rivers, a turlough and a farm drain in Galway. Of the samples tested, 61c were positive for the presence of STEC.
“Our testing is sensitive enough to identify as low as two cells of the STEC bacteria,” Alfahl said “The gold standard for testing is culture in a lab, but this can take days and often weeks, and on occasion can return a false negative result – just because the culture does not grow in the lab does not always mean the bacteria has not been present in the water.
“Our test removes the necessity for samples to go to a lab. It offers on-the-spot results and is of huge benefit to the people using the water as a first step in identifying a contamination and a potential health risk.”
In June, an EPA report warned that there was no significant change in Ireland’s water quality last year and that nutrient pollution levels are too high in a large portion of our water bodies.
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