Fecal coliform
Bacterium
A fecal coliform (British: faecal coliform) is a facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-sporulating bacterium. Coliform bacteria generally originate in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Fecal coliforms are capable of growth in the presence of bile salts or similar surface agents, are oxidase negative, and produce acid and gas from lactose within 48 hours at 44 ± 0.5°C. The term thermotolerant coliform is more correct and is gaining acceptance over "fecal coliform".
Coliform bacteria include genera that originate in feces (e.g. Escherichia, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Citrobacter). The fecal coliform assay is intended to be an indicator of fecal contamination; more specifically of E. coli which is an indicator microorganism for other pathogens that may be present in feces. Presence of fecal coliforms in water may not be directly harmful, and it does not necessarily indicate the presence of feces.
Fecal bacteria as indicator of water quality
Background
In general, increased levels of fecal coliforms provide a warning of failure in water treatment, a break in the integrity of the distribution system, possible contamination with pathogens. When levels are high there may be an elevated risk of waterborne gastroenteritis. Tests for the bacteria are cheap, reliable and rapid (1-day incubation).
The public source identifies “Fecal coliform” as bacterium. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Fecal, coliform and Bacterium.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q918223. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Fecal coliform” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.