title: Occurrence of Enterococcus species with virulence markers in an urban flow-influenced tropical recreational beach.
abstract: Median enterococci counts of beach water samples gradually increased at statistically significant levels (χ2: 26.53, df: 4; p<0.0001) with increasing proximity to river influx. The difference in proportion of antibiotic resistant enterococci in beach water and river water samples was statistically significant (p<0.05) for the tested antibiotics with river isolates generally presenting higher resistance frequencies. Virulence genes cyl, esp, gelE and asa were detected at varying frequencies (7.32%, 21.95%, 100% and 63.41% respectively) among river isolates. On the other hand, the prevalence of these genes was lower (0%, 20%, 67.27% and 41.82% respectively) among beach water isolates. Multi-Locus-Sequence-Typing analysis of Enterococcus faecalis presented four sequence types (ST) one of which shared six out of seven tested loci with ST6, a member of the clonal complex of multi-drug resistant strains associated with hospital outbreaks.
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science & Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Malaysia. Electronic address: asmat@ukm.my.
authors.forename: Asmat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science & Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Malaysia; Institute of Ecology and Environmental Studies, Obafemi Awlowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Electronic address: ayokunled@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ayokunle Christopher
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Dada
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental & Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Gires
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Usup
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science & Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Lee Yook
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Heng
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001493:Bathing Beaches; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D064307:Microbiota; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000235:genetics; D014329:Tropical Climate; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D037521:Virulence Factors; C095500:SodA protein, Bacteria; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase
keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Beach water; Enterococcus; Sequence type; Virulence factors