O-37 Can we use wastewater surveillance to detect patterns of antibiotic resistant in bacteria?
Author(s):
M Matthew-Bernard ,K Farmer- Diaz , S Cheetham , K Mitchell , C.N.L Macpherson , ME Ramos-Nino
Year of Presentation:
2024
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the presence of antibiotic resistance in E. coli for selected antibiotics isolated from wastewater samples.
Methods: Composite wastewater samples (31) were collected between January 2022 and October 2023 via autosampler. E. coli was isolated from the samples using lactose fermentation, colony patterns in selective media, and indole, methyl red, Voges-Proskauer, and citrate (IMViC) test. Antibiotic susceptibility phenotypes of E. coli from 40 isolates were determined using the standard disk diffusion technique following the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines against 12 different antibiotics.
Results: Eleven (27.5%) of the 40 isolates examined showed resistance to at least one of the antibiotics tested, with 10% demonstrating multidrug resistance. Resistance to ampicillin at 15% was the most commonly resistant antibiotic recorded.
Conclusion: This is the first report on antibiotic E. coli resistance in wastewater in Grenada. Similar results were obtained for studies on wastewater on a small community in Georgia, USA, where ampicillin was also the dominant resistance antibiotic recorded. The results show that wastewater can be utilized as a surveillance tool to monitor the occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and may play a critical role in the detection of potential public health threats like superbugs.