Vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139 associated with seawater and plankton from coastal marine areas of the Caribbean Sea

Abstract

The aim of this study was to characterize the virulence properties and the antimicrobial resistance of Vibrio cholerae isolates from a coastal area of the Caribbean Sea. Three V. cholerae isolates were obtained from seawater and plankton using the HP selective medium for Helicobacter pylori. These V. cholerae isolates belonged to the non-O1, non-O139 serogroups and they did not have cholera toxin genes. They were resistant to penicillins and some cephalosporins and were sensitive to netilmicin, tetracyclines, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim and quinolones. This is the first study that provides biochemical and molecular evidence of non-O1, non-O139 V. cholerae isolates, non-toxigenic, carrying antibiotic resistance in seawater and plankton from a coastal area of the Caribbean Sea.

Keywords:

• seawater
• plankton
• Vibrio cholerae
• PCR
• culture

Acknowledgements

This work was partially funded by FONACIT S1-200000646 grants to P.S.; a grant from the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC) to M.A. G-A, M.C. and P.G. and a grant from the Decanato de Investigación y Desarrollo of the Universidad Simón Bolívar to P.S. The authors gratefully acknowledge Evelyn Zoppi for plankton analyses and Damarys Sánchez from Instituto Nacional de Higiene Rafael Rangel for serological support.