Microbiological quality of treated water used in hemodialysis services in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Monitoring the quality of treated water used to prepare dialysis solutions in hemodialysis services is essential for the success of renal replacement therapy. The presence of microbiological contaminants represents a health hazard to hemodialysis patients. This study described the microbiological quality of water used by hemodialysis services in Minas Gerais, based on microbiological analyses of water samples collected by the Minas Gerais Sanitary Surveillance Agency in 68 municipalities from 2022 to 2024. The microbiological analyses were performed by the Minas Gerais Central Public Health Laboratory and included the parameters of heterotrophic bacteria count, total coliforms, and bacterial endotoxin wich are crucial for assessing the microbiological quality of the water. Of the 145 hemodialysis services monitored, 32.4% presented samples in disagreement with the microbiological standard from legislation RDC ANVISA n° 11 of 2014. A total of 10.3% of the samples were rejected because they did not comply with some microbiological standard in force in the legislation. The microbiological tests of heterotrophic bacteria count and total coliform research were the cause of rejection of 5% and 2% of the samples, respectively. The presence of bacterial endotoxin was detected in 11% of these. Overall, the microbiological quality of water used by hemodialysis services in Minas Gerais requires attention from local monitoring authorities, given the significant prevalence of services with samples that do not comply with legislation. This emphasizes the importance of maintaining continuous monitoring of the quality of water used in hemodialysis services.