(Vienna, 11 July 2025) On 14 July 2025, the fifth edition of the world's largest river expedition, the Joint Danube Survey (JDS5), will get underway. The joint investigation of the Danube takes place every six years and builds on previous evaluations. Experts from across the Danube region and beyond are involved. Alexander Kirschner from MedUni Vienna is leading the team that will investigate the microbiological water quality from Germany to the Danube Delta in Romania.
The team led by Alexander Kirschner from the Institute for Hygiene and Applied Immunology at the Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology at MedUni Vienna will set off for the first partner laboratory at the University of Regensburg on 14 July 2025. His task in the coming weeks will be to take samples at a total of 70 locations along the Danube and major tributaries via laboratory stations in Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Turnu-Severin and Calarasi, analyse them in the laboratories or prepare them for later analysis. "The investigations will focus on faecal contamination and the spread of antibiotic resistance," says Kirschner, describing the central objective.
In addition to Alexander Kirschner, the microbiology team includes Alexandra Fobe (also from the Institute for Hygiene and Applied Immunology at the Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology at MedUni Vienna), Mats Leifels and Ofélia Kirschner (both from the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences in Krems) and the Serbian research couple Stoimir and Margareta Kolarevic (University of Belgrade). A total of 1,000 researchers from 100 institutions in 14 countries are participating in the JDS5 activities. The most important findings on the current ecological, chemical and microbiological status of the Danube and its most important tributaries are expected to be published in a report in early 2027.
Further information: https://www.danubesurvey.org/jds5/