Microbial contamination of packaged drinking water in Nigeria

Objectives About 18% of urban households in Nigeria depend on packaged sachet water as the primary source of drinking water. This review assessed microbial contamination of these products with an emphasis on total coliforms and the faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) – Escherichia coli (E. coli) and thermotolerant coliforms (TTC). Methods PubMed/Medline, African Index Medicus, AfroLib, Global Health Library, Embase and the ISI Web of Science databases were searched to identify original research published up to October 2020. The literature findings were synthesised narratively in line with the review objectives. To assess prevalence of microbial contamination, a random effects meta‐analysis, was also conducted using the R metafor package in RStudio. The protocol for this review is registered on PROSPERO with reference number CRD 42019128474. Results Fifty‐two of 429 studies were identified for inclusion. At 53.27%, contamination prevalence was higher for total coliforms (95% CI: 39.05–66.98, I2 = 81%, p