Prevalence of Antibiotic-Resistant Strains of Escherichia coli in Drinking Water Samples from Mowe Metropolis, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

A measured Escherichia coli level in drinking water is perhaps the most popular means of determining human health risks globally. Water samples from wells, boreholes and sachet water, the 3 predominant sources of drinking water in the study area were evaluated for the presence of bacteria, particularly E coli. Bacteria isolation was done using standard microbiological procedures while identification of isolates was done using cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics. Enumeration of standard plate count was done by spread plate method on serially diluted water samples. The prevalence of E coli in the water samples and the activities of cefoxitin, fusidic acid, meticillin, penicillin and vancomycin against the E coli isolates and the susceptibility testing data were obtained using Kirby Bauer method. A total of six bacteria species Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes were isolated from water samples obtained from borehole, well and sachet water samples in the study area. The mean bacteria counts ranged between 3.74 x 104 to 1.65 x 102 CFU/ml for well and borehole water and 0.81 to 5.1 x 102 CFU/ml for sachet water samples. Out of the 6 E coli strains representing 27.2% of the isolated bacteria species; two, representing 33.3% of the strains showed moderate to high resistance against meticillin. These findings are expected to motivate public health stakeholders in the study location to attempt reducing the growing resistance of pathogenic bacteria in the environment, and their ecotoxic effects. © 2014.