Antibiotic Resistance Patterns of Escherichia coli and Salmonella from Environmental Samples ofThoothukudi Coast

摘要

The incidence and antibiotic resistance pattern of E. coli and Salmonella from water; beach sand and fish collected from four fish landing centres of Thoothukudi were studied. Presence of E. coli was confirmed in 90%; 92% and 79% of water; beach sandand fish samples respectively; while Salmonella was detected in 25% of water and sand samples and 17% of fish samples. The isolates were tested against fifteen antibiotics by disc diffusion method. While all the E. coli isolates were resistant to bacitracin; erythromycin and rifampicin; none of the isolates was resistant to ampicillin; chloramphenicol and sulphafurazole. Among Salmonella isolates; all were resistant to bacitracin and most were resistant to ampicillin; colistin; erythromycin and rifampicin. None of the Salmonella isolates was resistant to chloramphenicol; ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin. Multiple antibiotic resistance MAR index was higher than 0.2 in all strains of E. coli and Salmonella revealing that they might have originated from high-risk sources of contamination such as humans.