Detection and Analysis of Antibiotic Resistance in Coliform Bacteria in Caribbean Coastal Water

Background:

Curacao is a typical Caribbean island with many tourist-attracting beaches along its coast and a less developed sewage and water sanitation infrastructure. With the evident exposure of both inhabitants and tourists to coastal waters, we hypothesized that these waters could very well play a role in the circulation of antibiotic resistant bacteria relevant to clinical care of infectious diseases in Curacao. The goal of this study is to detect and type antibiotic resistant bacteria present in seawater of the southern coast of Curacao,

 

Methods:

Filtered bacteria were cultured on MacConkey agars containing various antibiotics to allow selective growth of gram-negative bacteria with antibiotic resistance phenotypes. Typing and antibiotic susceptibility testing on all isolates was done on the VITEK II system. PCR based detection for KPC and NDM-1 was performed on the residues of filtered water samples.

 

Results:

50 water samples were collected and processed using the membrane filter technique. Selective culture resulted in 248 bacterial isolates of which 29 were Enterobacteriaceae species. In 21 Enterobacteriaceae isolates, acquired antibiotic resistance was detected. PCR detected the KPC gene in one water sample. Acquired resistance to colistin was detected in 3 samples.

 

Conclusion:

The detection of resistance to carbapenems in 3 isolates and resistance to colistin in 3 isolates indicates that coastal water is a reservoir harboring resistance to many antibiotics including last resort options

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