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Occurrence of multiple antibiotic resistance and R-plasmids in gram-negative bacteria isolated from faecally contaminated fresh-water streams in Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

G. L. French ,
J. Ling ,
K. L. Chow  and
K. K. Mark
G. L. French
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, N T, Hong Kong
J. Ling
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, N T, Hong Kong
K. L. Chow
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N T, Hong Kong
K. K. Mark
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N T, Hong Kong
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The bacterial populations of six freshwater streams in populated areas of the Hong Kong New Territories were studied. There is considerable faecal contamination of these streams, with coliform counts as high as 105 c.f.u./ml and the contaminating organisms show a high prevalence of antibiotic resistance and multiple resistance. With direct plating of water samples onto antibioticcontaining media, an average of 49% of the gram-negative bacteria were ampicillinresistant, 3% chloramphenicol-resistant and 1% gentamicin-resistant. At individual sites resistance to these three drugs was as high as 98%, 8% and 3% respectively. More than 70% of strains were resistant to two or more antibiotics, 29% to five or more and 2% to eight or more. A total of 98 patterns of antibiotic resistance were detected with no one pattern predominating. Twenty-eight gram-negative bacterial species were identified as stream contaminants. Escherichia coli was the commonest bacterial species isolated and other frequent isolates were Enterobacter sp., Klebsiella sp. and Citrobacter sp., but no enteric pathogens were detected. The greatest prevalence of resistance and multiple resistance was associated with the heaviest contamination by E. coli. Analysis of selected stream isolates revealed multiple plasmid bands arranged in many different patterns, but multiple antibiotic resistances were shown to be commonly mediated by single transferable plasmids. Faecally-contaminated freshwater streams in Hong Kong may be reservoirs of antibiotic resistance plasmids for clinically-important bacteria.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 98 , Issue 3 , June 1987 , pp. 285 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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