It is surprising how little is actually known about the fate of wastewater bacteria once they enter the sea. This wide-ranging work is one of the first to unravel the mechanisms determining bacterial sensitivity or survival under these conditions.

"The release of non-disinfected wastewaters into the marine environment is a common worldwide practice, in under-developed as well as in highly developed countries. Consequently, the seas are constantly infused with wastewater bacteria, among them highly pathogenic ones.

Pathogens in the Sea: An Overview.- Diversity, Sources, and Detection of Human Bacterial Pathogens in the Marine Environment.- Biotic and Abiotic Effects.- Survival of Enteric Bacteria in Seawater: Molecular Aspects.- Human Pathogenic Viruses in the Marine Environment.- Survival of Viruses in the Marine Environment.- Zoonotic Protists in the Marine Environment.- Marine and Estuarine Harmful Algal Blooms: Impacts on Human and Animal Health.- Pathogenic Vibrio Species in the Marine and Estuarine Environment.- Vibrio vulnificus.- Vibrio parahaemolyticus-Seafood Safety and Associations with Higher Organisms.- Global Microbial Ecology of Vibrio cholerae.- Gram-Positive Bacteria in the Marine Environment.- Fecal Contamination in Coastal Areas: An Engineering Approach.- Retention of Pathogenicity in Viable Nonculturable Pathogens.- Thalassogenic Infectious Diseases Caused byWastewater Pollution of the Marine Environment: An Estimate of the Worldwide Occurrence.- Bacterial Pathogens of Marine Fish.- Microbial Diseases of Corals.- Aquaculture and Animal Pathogens in the Marine Environment with Emphasis on Marine Shrimp Viruses.