Occurrence of antibiotic resistance among Gram negative bacteria isolated from effluents of fish processing plants in and around Mangalore

ABSTRACT

The presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in seafood not only poses a serious health risk for the consumers but also contributes to the spread of these antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the natural environments through the effluents discharged from the fish processing plants. The aims of this study were to isolate Gram-negative bacteria from the effluents of fish processing plants in and around Mangalore, India and to profile their antibiotic resistance pattern. Maximum resistance was seen for ampicillin (40.78%) followed by tetracycline (40.22%) and nitrofurantoin (29.05%). Further, the detection of genes that contribute to antibiotic resistance revealed the presence of sulfonamide resistance genes (sul1 and sul2) and extended spectrum β-lactamase genes (bla _CTX-M, bla _TEM) in a few isolates. The presence of such bacteria in fish processing effluents is a matter of great concern because they can contribute significantly to the antibiotic resistance in the natural environment. It is imperative that seafood processing plants follow the safe disposal of effluents in order to reduce or eliminate the antibiotic resistance menace.

KEYWORDS:

• Antibiotic resistant bacteria
• fish processing plant effluents
• gram negative bacteria
• antibiotic resistance genes

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to acknowledge the Indian Council for Medical Research for providing financial support to I.K. (project AMR/37/2011-ECD-1). The facilities provided for the study in Nitte (Deemed to be University) are gratefully acknowledged.

Conflict of interest

No conflict of interest declared

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Indian Council for Medical Research [AMR/37/2011-ECD-1].