Holy water plays an important role in different religions. It was first recognized as a source of potentially pathogenic microorganisms in England in 1992. It has been associated with human infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanii, Escherichia coli and other enterobacteria. Holy water is kept in churches in the fonts, which are usually located at the entrance to the church and in reservoirs located somewhere in the church. When believers enter and leave the church, they wet their fingers in the font introducing a skin microbiota into the holy water and with their thumb they make a cross on their forehead, mouth and chest. Believers can pour holy water into a container and take it home. In order to better understand the impact of salt addition on the bacterial community and the potential risk posed by this water as a source of infection with pathogenic microorganisms, we examined the composition of cultivable aerobic bacterial community in holy water from the fonts and reservoirs of selected Catholic churches in and around Ljubljana. Large part of the isolates were genera typical of human skin microbiota (Acinetobacter, Staphylococcus) and tap water (Pseudomonas). Selected isolates were also tested for antibiotic resistance. In the studied churches, salt in not added or the addition of salt is too small to prevent the microbial contamination of holy water. Appropriate hygiene measures such as regular water exchange and thorough cleaning of fonts should be introduced.
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