The First Report of the Antimicrobial Resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii Isolates from Seafood Samples

Abstract

A cinetobacterbaumannii is a newly-launched bacterium responsible for rare cases of diarrhea and foodborne diseases. This survey was performed to study the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of A. baumannii isolates recovered from fish, shrimp, and lobster. Five-hundred seafood samples were collected and cultured for isolation of A. baumannii. A. baumannii isolates were identified by biochemical tests and further confirmed by the PCR. The antimicrobial resistance of isolates was studied using disk diffusion test. Twenty-eight out of 500 (5.6%) seafood samples were contaminated with A. baumannii. Fish had the highest prevalence of A. baumannii (10%), while lobster had the lowest (2.5%). A. baumannii isolates harbored the highest incidence of resistance toward tetracycline (75%), gentamicin (71.4%), ciprofloxacin (64.2%), trimethoprim (57.1%), streptomycin (53.5%), and erythromycin (50%) antimicrobial agents. The lowest incidence of resistance was obtained against chloramphenicol (3.5%) and imipenem (7.1%) antimicrobial agents. This is the first report of isolation and identification and antimicrobial resistance pattern of A. baumannii in seafood samples globally. The role of seafood samples as reservoirs of antimicrobial-resistant A. baumannii was determined. Complete cooking of seafood and prevention from their consumption in raw form can diminish the risk of A. baumannii foodborne diseases.

Prevalence and Phenotypic and Genotypic Patterns of Antibiotic Resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii Strains Isolated from Fish, Shrimp, and Lobster Samples

“…In our previous survey [27], A. baumannii prevalence amongst the fish, shrimp, and lobster samples was 10%, 5.30%, and 2.50%, respectively. Hasiri et al found A. baumannii in 5.6% seafood in Iran.…”

“…This low prevalence in Iran indicates that A. baumannii contamination of seafood is emerging. In this study, samples were collected only from seafood markets in central Shiraz, so this low prevalence is not representative of the whole province, and different results could be found in other seafood markets [27]. In the United States [41], Acinetobacter was detected in 9.54% of retail seafood samples.…”

“…Isolated studies have reported the presence of A. baumannii carrying resistance genes (Oxa-23) in some seafood species, but their prevalence has not been determined [25,26]. In Iran, only one study reported the presence of A. baumannii in seafood, and a low prevalence of 5.6% was found [27]. Regarding the clinical significance of A. baumannii as an emerging foodborne pathogen, thus, the present study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and phenotypic (disk diffusion) and genotypic (detection of antibiotic resistance genes) patterns of antibiotic resistance of A. baumannii strains isolated from fish, shrimp, and lobster samples.…”