WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

Zakia M. Abubakar, Wahida K. Soud, Ali M. Ussi and Rabia A. R.*

ABSTRACT

Pollution of Zanzibar beaches and coastal marine waters through dumping of domestic wastes, fish processing and disposal of untreated wastewater from local toilets and municipal drainage systems highlights a great health safety concern that may also harm the marine water ecosystem. This study assessed levels of bacterial contamination by evaluating the log cfu/100ml of E. coli, Salmonella and Vibrio spp in coastal marine waters of the four major fish landing sites in the Zanzibar Urban district; Maruhubi, Malindi, Kizingo and Mazizini. The study also investigated the seasonal variability of contamination of the three types of pathogens. Contamination levels of E. coli was highest at Malindi and Kizingo (58%). Malindi also showed highest contamination of Salmonella spp. (46%) whereas Mazizini had highest contamination of Vibrio spp. (44%). The log cfu/100ml levels varied between 1.8 at Mazizini and 3.2 at Malindi for total coliforms and between 0.28 and 0.45 for fecal coliforms. There was a significant zonal variability in contamination levels for coliforms at Malindi relative to other sites, where the levels were higher in inshore zone than offshore. Inter-site comparison for pooled data showed significantly higher level of contamination on average at Malindi inshore for both total coliform (p = 0.0002) and fecal coliform (p = 0.003) than all other sites. There was a significant seasonal variability in coliforms contamination levels in all sites (p = 0.014 to p << 0.0001); higher contamination levels were observed in rainy seasons and low contamination during dry seasons. Isolations of public health related bacterial pathogens in this study might indicate presence of other types of pathogens in Zanzibar coastal waters. There is therefore need for establishment of coastal water monitoring measures and define local standards for beach water quality. Further, the results of the study raise the possibility of contamination of fish catches, hence the need of introduction of fish catch hygiene monitoring schemes.