Antibiotic resistant pathogens versus human impacts: a study from three eco-regions of the Chennai coast, southern India.
We assessed the occurrence of pollution indicators and antibiotic resistant bacterial isolates from water and sediment samples of three different eco-regions of the Chennai coast between March - May of 2010. Total of 960 bacterial strains belonging to four genera were isolated which show the highest frequencies of resistance to vancomycin (53.6%) and penicillin (52.6%) (except Enterococcus sp., which is highly resistant to erythromycin) and lowest frequencies of resistance to chloramphenicol (3.43%), ciprofloxacin (3.95%), gentamicin (4.68%), and tetracycline (6.97%). The E. coli, Vibrio sp., Salmonella sp. and Enterococcus sp. show high frequency of resistance to 2-5 antibacterials of 60.4%, 45.83%, 69.16% and 46.6%, respectively. High pollution indices (PI - 6.66-14.06) and antibiotic resistance indices (ARI - 0.29-0.343) indicate that the coastal environment is highly exposed to antibiotic sources that suggesting to avoid direct contact.
Department of Marine Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, Tamil Nadu, India.
Sivanandham
S
Vignesh
Krishnan
K
Muthukumar
Rathinam Arthur
RA
James
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis / Q000382:microbiology*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical