Bacterial pathogens in coastal sediments may pose a health risk to users of beaches. Although recent work shows that beach sands harbor both indicator bacteria and potential pathogens, it is not known how deep within beach sands the organisms may persist nor if they may be exposed during natural physical processes. In this study, sand cores of approximately 1 m depth were collected at three sites across the beach face in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina before, during and after large waves from an offshore hurricane. The presence of DNA from the fecal indicator bacterium Enterococci was detected in subsamples at different depths within the cores by PCR amplification. Erosion and accretion of beach sand at the three sites also was determined for each sampling day. The results indicate that ocean beach sands with persisting enterococci signals could be exposed and redistributed when wind, waves, and currents cause beach erosion or accretion.

中文翻译：

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侵蚀和增生对沙滩沙中肠球菌分布的影响

沿海沉积物中的细菌病原体可能对海滩使用者构成健康风险。尽管最近的工作表明沙滩上同时存在指示细菌和潜在病原体，但尚不清楚这些生物可能会在沙滩内持续多深，也不清楚它们是否会在自然物理过程中暴露出来。在这项研究中，在北卡罗来纳州基蒂霍克海滩对面的三个地点收集了大约 1 m 深的砂芯，在海上飓风产生大浪之前、期间和之后。通过 PCR 扩增，在核心内不同深度的子样本中检测到来自粪便指示菌肠球菌的 DNA。每个采样日还确定了三个地点的海滩沙子的侵蚀和堆积。