Summary
The occurrence and antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli in tropical seafood was studied. A 3-tube MPN method was used for determining the level of faecal contamination of fresh and processed seafood. Of the 188 samples tested which included finfish, shellfish, water and ice, 155 were positive for the presence of faecal coliforms following incubation at 44.5 °C. However, E. coli was isolated from only 47% of the samples positive for faecal coliforms. The antibiotic resistance of 116 strains isolated from seafood was tested using 14 different antibiotics including ampicillin, cephalothin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin and vancomycin. Seven strains were resistant to more than five antibiotics of which one was resistant to eight antibiotics. The multiple drug resistant strains harboured plasmids of varying sizes. Antibiotic susceptibility studies revealed that seafood from India contains multiple antibiotic resistant strains of E. coli which may serve as a reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes in the aquatic environment. All the strains used in this study did not harbour any virulence genes commonly associated with pathogenic E. coli, when tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A.W. Bauer W.M.M. Kirby J.C. Skerris M. Turck (1996) ArticleTitleAntibiotic susceptibility testing by a standardized single diffusion method American Journal of Clinical Pathology 45 494–496
S.C. Edberg J.E. Patterson D.B. Smith (1994) ArticleTitleDifferentiation of distribution system, source water and clinical coliforms by DNA analysis Journal of Clinical Microbiology 32 139–142 Occurrence Handle8126169
InstitutionalAuthorNameFDA. (1998) Bacteriological Analytical Manual, Food and Drug Administration EditionNumber8th ed AOAC International Arlington, VA
S.E. Feimen (1998) ArticleTitleAntibiotics in animal feed: drug resistance revisited American Society for Microbiology News 64 24–30
P.M. Fratamico S.K. Sackitey M. Wiedmann M.Y. Deng (1995) ArticleTitleDetection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 by multiplex PCR Journal of Clinical Microbiology 33 2188–2191 Occurrence Handle7559976
E.E. Geldreich (1997) Coliforms a new beginning to an old problem D. Kay C. Fricker (Eds) Coliforms and E coli Problem or Solution. The Royal Society of Chemistry Cambridge 3–11
W.O.K. Grabow I.G. Middendorff O.W. Prozesky (1973) ArticleTitleSurvival in maturation farms of coliform bacteria with transferable drug-resistance Water Research 7 1589–1597 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0043-1354(73)90130-9
W.O.K. Grabow M. Van Zyl O.W. Prozesky (1976) ArticleTitleBehaviour in conventional sewage purification processes of coliform bacteria with transferable or non-transferrable drug-resistance Water Research 10 717–723 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0043-1354(76)90010-5
Jeyasekaran, G., Karunasagar, I., Karunasagar, I. 1990 Validity of faecal coliform test in tropical fishery products. Proceedings of the Second Indian fisheries Forum 27–31.
H.S. Kumar S.K. Otta I. Karunasagar I. Karunasagar (2001) ArticleTitleDetection of Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) in fresh seafood and meat marketed in Mangalore, India by PCR Letters in Applied Microbiology 33 334–338 Occurrence Handle10.1046/j.1472-765X.2001.01007.x Occurrence Handle11696091
S.B. Levy (1998) ArticleTitleThe challenge of antibiotic resistance Scientific American 278 46–53 Occurrence Handle9487702
A. McGeer (1998) ArticleTitleAgricultural use of antibiotics and resistance in human pathogens: villain or scapegoat?. Canadian Medical Association Journal 159 1129–1136 Occurrence Handle9835883
J.P. Nataro Kaper J.B. (1998) ArticleTitleDiarrheagenic Escherichia coli. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 11 142–202
InstitutionalAuthorNameOffice International des Epizoties (OIE). (1999) The use of antibiotics in animals - ensuring the protection of public health Proceedings of the Scientific Conference Paris, France
N.A. OlsvikO. Strockbine (1990) PCR detection of heat-stable, heat-labile and shiga-like toxin genes in Escherichia coli D.H. Persing T.F. Smith F.C. Tenover T.J. White (Eds) In Diagnostic microbiology Principles and Applications. American Society for Microbiology Washington 271–276
A. Pal S. Ghosh T. Ramamurthy S. Yamasaki T. Tsukamoto S.K. Bhattacharya G.B. Nair Y. Takeda (1999) ArticleTitleShiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli from healthy cattle in a semi-urban community in Calcutta, India Indian Journal of Medical Research 110 83–85 Occurrence Handle10612908
A.W. Paton J.C. Paton (1998) ArticleTitleDetection and characterisation of shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli by using multiplex PCR assays for stx1, stx2, eae A, enterohemorrhagic E. coli hlyA, rfbO111 and rfbO157 Journal of Clinical Microbiology 36 598–602 Occurrence Handle9466788
J. Sambrook T. FritschE.F. Maniatis (1989) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press New York
A.E. Vanden Bogaard E.S. Stobberingh (1999) ArticleTitleAntibiotic usage in animals: impact on bacteria resistance and public health Drugs 58 589–609 Occurrence Handle10551432
D.L. WilliamsR.J. Heymann (1998) ArticleTitleContainment of antibiotic resistance Science 279 1153–1154 Occurrence Handle10.1126/science.279.5354.1153 Occurrence Handle9508688
W. Witte (1998) ArticleTitleMedical consequences of antibiotic use in agriculture Science 279 996–997 Occurrence Handle10.1126/science.279.5353.996 Occurrence Handle9490487
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kumar, H.S., Parvathi, A., Karunasagar, I. et al. Prevalence and antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli in tropical seafood. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 21, 619–623 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-004-3555-8
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-004-3555-8