Incidence of multiple antibiotic resistant Gram-negative bacteria isolated from surface and underground water sources in south western region of Nigeria

Abstract

In most rural and urban settlements, particularly in Nigeria, wells, spring, streams or rivers and lakes serves as major sources of water supply for drinking and other domestic purposes. Unfortunately, many of the available water sources are not potable without some form of treatment which is seldom available in most settings. The use of untreated surface water sources for drinking and for domestic purposes remains a major threat to public health as these could serve as reservoirs the for transfer of antibiotic resistant pathogens. The incidence of resistant bacteria isolated from surface and underground water in six rural settlements in Ekiti State Nigeria was thus investigated. Gram-negative bacteria were isolated from wells, streams and boreholes in six rural settlements in Ekiti State Nigeria between January and April, 2006 and the prevalence of organisms exhibiting multiple antibiotic resistance to tetracycline, amoxicillin, cotrimoxazole, nitofurantoin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid and ofloxacin was observed. Gram-negative bacterial isolates comprised Escherichia coli (22.7%), Enterobacter aerogenes (2.5%), Salmonella spp. (13.3%), Shigella spp. (19.3%), Proteus spp. (18.5%), Klebsiella spp. (19.3%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4.2%). Over 10% of the bacteria were resistant to four or more antibiotic. Antibiotic resistance was highest in members of the genera Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, and Proteus. Given the prevalence of appalling sanitary facilities and inappropriate public antibiotic use, the possibility of antibiotic resistance selection, faecal dissemination and subsequent contamination of local water sources available for rural residents of the developing world is highlighted. The implication for clinical practice of infections caused by antibiotic resistant strains especially among immunodeficient individuals is also discussed.

Genome Dynamics and Molecular Infection Epidemiology of Multidrug-Resistant Helicobacter pullorum Isolates Obtained from Broiler and Free-Range Chickens in India

“…We were expecting a lower prevalence of AMR in free-range chicken isolates because there is no intensive use of antibiotics in their rearing process, unlike that of broiler chickens. Surprisingly, our broiler and free-range chicken isolates showed similar resistance patterns, which might be due to the ability of these bacteria to acquire genes horizontally (34) from resistant microorganisms in the surrounding environment as the exposure of free-range chickens to environmental contamination is much greater than that of farm-reared chickens (35,36). This could also be due to the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in humans and animals, which results in high selection pressure.…”

Salmonella in surface and drinking water: Occurrence and water-mediated transmission

“…Particular attention was also addressed to the evaluation of available and new approaches to monitor sources of Salmonella contamination, and to predict its presence in different aquatic environments (Savichtcheva, Okayama, & Okabe, 2007;Schriewer et al, 2010;Walters, Gannon, & Field, 2007;Wilkes et al, 2009). Additionally, the recently available data on the prevalence of antibiotic resistant Salmonella strains in surface and drinking water (Bhatta et al, 2007;Dolejská et al, 2009;Meinersmann et al, 2008;Oluyege et al, 2009;Patchanee et al, 2010) consistently indicate that these aquatic environments are a reservoir of MDR strains, which might contribute to the dissemination of these MDR strains through susceptible populations.…”

“…Typhoid Salmonella serovars Typhi and Paratyphi A were only detected in surface waters in developing countries where the disease is endemic (Bhatta et al, 2007;Oluyege et al, 2009). In contrary, Salmonella Paratyphi B, although very rare, has been detected in surface waters in France (Baudart, Lemarchand, et al, 2000) and Italy (Bonadonna et al, 2006).…”

“…As shown in Table 3, Salmonella was detected with varying frequencies in the analyzed water. Several studies describe Salmonella prevalence in drinking water in African countries, mainly South Africa and Nigeria (Akinyemi, Oyefolu, Salu, Adewale, & Fasure, 2006;Momba, Malakate, & Theron, 2006;Oguntoke et al, 2009;Oluyege et al, 2009;Potgieter et al, 2005). Momba et al (2006) reported poor microbiological quality of drinking water in a rural area of the Eastern Cape Province (South Africa) where Salmonella arizonae was detected in 100% of municipal drinking water samples.…”

“…As a consequence, the possible role of fecally contaminated waters in the dissemination of MDR Salmonella, both typhoidal and non-typhoidal, as well as antibiotic resistance genes though horizontal gene transfer is of great interest. This issue is of particular concern in developing countries where the common use of untreated, low quality water as drinking water sources together with inappropriate use and self-prescribing of antibiotics increase the risk of drug resistance and the probability of wide dissemination of resistant strains of high human health concern (Oluyege, Dada, & Odeyemi, 2009;Srikantiah et al, 2007).…”