Aerobic bacteria in holy water from Catholic churches in Slovenia | Aerobne bakterije v blagoslovljeni vodi iz katoliških cerkva v Sloveniji

English. Holy water plays an important role in various religions. It is used for baptisms, to bless people, places and objects. In Catholic churches, it is usually offered in the holy water fonts at the entrance of the church. But it is also considered a source of potential pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanii and enterobacteria. To estimate the potential risk, we studied the composition and antimicrobial resistance of bacteria in holy water from fonts and reservoirs of ten selected Catholic churches in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Bacterial contamination of holy water from fonts was moderate (102 - 105 CFU ml-1), but one to two orders of magnitude higher than in reservoirs, probably due to frequent immersion of fingers in the water. Some genera/species occurred only in fonts (Acinetobacter beijerinckii, A. haemolyticus, Brevundimonas aurantiaca, B. mediterranea, Delftia, Kocuria, Sphingobacterium, Staphylococcus warneri), while few fecal indicator bacteria were isolated. Isolated bacteria have relatively low pathogenic potential, some of them are skin commensals. Bacterial strains isolated in this study were susceptible to antibiotics.While according to our results, the potential of holy water for spreading bacterial infections is modest, to further limit the risks, water should be changed regularly, the fonts cleaned thoroughly, and the water should not be brought in contact with the eyes, ingested or aerosolized and inhaled.

Slovenian. Blagoslovljena voda ima pomembno vlogo v različnih religijah. Uporablja se pri svetem krstu, za blagoslov ljudi, krajev in predmetov. V katoliških cerkvah se običajno nahaja v kropilnikih ob vhodu v cerkev. Lahko pa predstavlja tudi vir oportunističnih patogenov, kot so Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanii in enterobakterije. Da bi bolje razumeli totveganje, smo proučili sestavo in protimikrobno odpornost bakterij v blagoslovljeni vodi kropilnikov in rezervarjev desetih izbranih katoliških cerkva v Ljubljani (Slovenija). Bakterijska kontaminacija blagoslovljene vode iz krstilnikov je bila zmerna (102 - 105 CFU ml-1), a za red velikosti do dva višja kot v rezervarjih, verjetno zaradi pogostega pomakanja prstov vernikov v vodo kropilnika ob vstopu in izstopu iz cerkve. Nekateri bakterijski rodovi/vrste so se pojavili le v kropilnikih (Acinetobacter beijerinckii, A. haemolyticus, Brevundimonas aurantiaca, B. mediterranea, Delftia, Kocuria, Sphingobacterium,Staphylococcus warneri), izoliranih pa je bilo le nekaj fekalnih indikatorskih bakterij. Izolirane bakterije imajo razmeroma nizek patogeni potencial, nekatere med njimi so kožni komenzali. Bakterijski sevi v tej študiji so bili občutljivi proti antibiotikom. Čeprav je potencial blagoslovljene vode za širjenje bakterijskih okužb glede na naše rezultate majhen, lahko tveganja dodatno zmanjšamo z redno menjavo vode, s temeljitim čiščenjem kropilnikov in s preprečevanjem vnosa vode v oči, njenega zaužitja ter aerosolizacije in vdihavanja.