Traces of E. coli found in PTA water

Traces of Escherichia coli (E. coli) was recently found in water in the Moot area, Pretoria Moot Rekord reports.

This happened when a resident from Wonderboom South, Isabel Stoltz, noticed that her dogs had diarrhoea.

“I immediately thought it was the food. I returned to the shop I bought the food from to find out what was going on,” she said.

“They took the bag of food back for testing and also took a sample of the water.”

She said according to the shop, they had a similar occurrence where it was the water that was causing the diarrhoea.

The test results, taken in April/May this year showed that the water had traces of E. coli.

The report was conducted by a SANAS accredited laboratory from Pretoria, who confirmed the information on Thursday.

Stoltz said on Tuesday the dog’s diarrhoea had improved slightly, but was not completely gone.

“This makes me wonder if the water still has any traces of it,” she said.

Tshwane metro spokesperson, Selby Bokaba on Friday said: “The Department of Water and Sanitation would investigate the matter. The metro needs to inspect on-site the alleged e-coli contamination and give factual findings,” he said.

Upon query, the ward councillor, Elmarie Linde was not aware of the matter.

E. coli is a type of bacteria that normally live in the intestines of people and animals.

Early symptoms of E. coli are; the infection may include fever, nausea, vomiting, and bloody diarrhoea and later symptoms of E. coli infection are nosebleeds, shortness of breath, seizures and excessive bleeding.

E. coli infection is contagious and can be spread from person to person by faecal contamination.

Pets, such as dogs, can contract colibacillosis, which is a disease caused by E. coli.

Colibacillosis may cause the following symptoms in an affected dog:

– Depression

– Dehydration

– Lack of appetite

– Vomiting

– Rapid heart rate

– Weakness

– Lethargy

– Watery diarrhoea

– Cold skin (due to low body temperature)

– Bluish coloured mucous membranes due to inadequate oxygen in red blood cells