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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Riverside, California » Agricultural Water Efficiency and Salinity Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #374846
Research Project: Identifying, Quantifying and Tracking Microbial Contaminants, Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Order to Protect Food and Water Supplies

Location: Agricultural Water Efficiency and Salinity Research Unit

Title: Antibiotic resistance genes occurrence in wastewaters from selected pharmaceutical facilities in Nigeria

Author
item OBAYIUWANA, AMARACHUKWU - Augustine University Ilara
item Ibekwe, Abasiofiok - Mark

Submitted to: Water
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2020
Publication Date: 7/3/2020
Citation: Obayiuwana, A., Ibekwe, A.M. 2020. Antibiotic resistance genes occurrence in wastewaters from selected pharmaceutical facilities in Nigeria. Water. 12(7). Article 1897. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12071897.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/w12071897

Interpretive Summary: There is a global concern over the use of antibiotics and the subsequent development of resistance to the drugs in clinical treatments of infectious diseases. In this study, we used advanced DNA methods to investigate the prevalence of 41 resistance genes in 60 bacterial isolates obtained from pharmaceutical wastewaters in Nigeria over twenty-six months. The resistance genes most frequently detected encode for resistance to chloramphenicol, sulphonamides, tetracycline, aminoglycoside, macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin, ß-lactams, and Penicillins. The wide distribution of antibiotic resistant bacteria and resistance genes in the pharmaceutical wastewaters makes them reservoirs of resistance genes which could potentially be transferred from commensal microorganisms to human pathogens. This research will benefit water quality managers, the World Health Organization, researchers, international water policy institutes, EPA, and other agencies involved in water management in developing countries.

Technical Abstract: The proliferation of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and the prevalence of resistance genes (ARGs) in wastewaters are well established factors that contribute to the reduced potency of antibiotics used in healthcare worldwide. The human health risk associated with the proliferation of ARB and ARGs need to be understood in order to design mitigation measures to combat their dissemination. Using the PCR analysis of genomic DNA, the prevalence of 41 ARGs active against the commonly used six classes of antibiotics was evaluated in 60 bacterial isolates obtained from pharmaceutical wastewaters in Nigeria. The ARGs most frequently detected from the bacterial isolates in each of the antibiotic classes under study include catA1 (58.3%); sulI (31.7%); tet(E) (30%); aac(3)-IV (28.3%); ermC (20%); blaTEM, blaCTX-M, blaNDM-1 at 18.3% each; which encode for resistance to chloramphenicol, sulphonamides, tetracycline, aminoglycoside, MLS and ß-lactams & Penicillins, respectively. Acinetobacter spp., accession number MH396735 expressed the highest number of ARGs of all the bacterial isolates, having at least one gene that encodes for resistance to all the classes of antibiotics in this study. This study highlights wide distribution of ARB and ARGs to the antibiotics tested in the wastewater, making pharmaceutical wastewater reservoirs of ARGs which could potentially be transferred from commensal microorganisms to human pathogens.