Occurrence of cryptosporidial oocysts and Giardia cysts in bottled mineral water commercialized in the city of Campinas, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

The consumption of bottled mineral water has significantly increased in Brazil so that it is in the interest of public health to determine the parasitological and microbiological status of some brands of Brazilian mineral water available in the town of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil. For this purpose, detection of protozoa by direct immunofluorescence technique and microbiological parameters were determined for each specimen after membrane,filtration. Giardia cysts were not present while crytosporidial oocysts were detected in two samples. The counts of protozoa varied from 0.2 to 0.5 oocvsts/l. The detected level of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and heterotrophic bacteria reflected the level of organic enrichment of the water.