Antibiotic resistant bacteria from sediment of coastal water of pahang, Malaysia

Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in sediment of coastal water of Pahang, Malaysia. A total of 125 bacteria were isolated from sediment samples of Tanjung Lumpur (A and B), Teluk Chempedak, Batu Hitam and Balok and tested against 10 different antibiotics by disc diffusion method. In Teluk Chempedak and Balok, the greatest frequencies of resistance in bacteria were found in Polymyxin B and Streptomycin but less common in Chloramphenicol. Meanwhile, high resistance of bacteria against the antibiotic in Tanjung Lumpur existed in Polymyxin B, Penicillin G and Ampicillin, whilst no resistance in bacteria was found in Chloramphenicol, Gentamycin and Erythromycin. Most of the bacteria from Batu Hitam exhibited high resistance to most of the antibiotics tested. Approximately, most of the isolates showed Multiple Antibiotic Resistance (MAR) index value higher than 0.2 (>0.2) which suggest there are high-risk of antibiotics contamination in the areas. Two isolates that showed resistance to most antibiotics were identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Brevundimonas vesicularis. Findings from this preliminary study revealed the presence of antibiotic resistance strain of bacteria which may indicate the occurrence of antibiotic contamination s at the coastal water of Pahang, Malaysia and this may pose a potential public health implications.