Multivariate drug resistance and microbial risk assessment in tropical coastal communities

ABSTRACT

Multivariate water quality parameters and statistical analysis were used to evaluate the factors controlling coastal drinking water quality and associated health risks among fisherfolks. Multidrug-resistant strains noticed in 400 isolates show 62% Salmonella; 53% Shigella sp.; 48% E. coli; and 36% Vibrio sp. in groundwater sample. In component analysis seawater intrusion, redox reaction, anthropogenic pollution, and weather factors were responsible for more than 93.3% in postmonsoon and 89.4% in summer season, respectively, for Cumulative %. In epidemiology study, 66% and 76% of municipally supplied drinking water were used in Pondicherry and Rameshwaram, respectively, compared to the amount of groundwater (34% and 20%) used in the study area. Similarly, Pondicherry and Rameshwaram areas recorded open defecation instances of 94% and 82%, respectively where less than 5% of the population used hygienic sanitation as part of the Clean India Mission in rural areas.

KEYWORDS:

• factor/cluster analysis
• epidemiology
• sanitation
• groundwater
• MDR strains

Additional information

Funding

We would like to acknowledge a University Research Fellowship (URF) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India for financial assistance (BT/PR 121814/2009) to undertake a part of this study. A grant from MOST to HUD is gratefully acknowledged (MOST105-2621-M-037-001 to T.H. Shih). This work was partly supported by a grant to HUD from the Research Center for Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (KMUTP105A27). We also thank the Asia-Pacific Ocean Research Center of the Department of Oceanography [No. 76211194] in the frame of KMU/NSYSU cooperation for research support.