Investigation of the prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and their genes in wastewater
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Date
2020
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
Antibiotics are therapeutic agents commonly used in the treatment of infections caused
by microorganisms. Due to the increased demand of antibiotics, they have become
environmental pollutant to both water and soil. This have caused adverse effects to
human, animals, aquatic ecosystem and in the environment in general. These effects
includes the development of antibiotic resistant microorganisms, which in turn makes
the selection of appropriate antibiotics for particular infections difficult. Therefore, the
presence and the prevalence of antibiotics in wastewater were investigated in this
study and resistant microorganism and their resistant genes were identified. Gas
chromatography with tandem mass spectrum was used to determine the presence of
antibiotics in domestic wastewater. Resistance capabilities were detected using the
disk diffusion method and resistance isolates were identified using the 16S rDNA
sequencing. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with specific primers was used to detect
resistant genes. Penicillin, ampicillin, meropenem and imipenem traces were
determined in domestic wastewater and Bacillus cereus isolates were identified. CTX
M, TEM and SHV resistant genes were detected. These genes are commonly found
in water and are implicated in numerous diseases such as gastrointestinal infections
including diarrhoea, abdominal pains, fever, etc. It is essential to track the pattern of
antibiotic resistance because this has a potential in controlling the spread of these
genes, thus preventing infections caused resistant microorganisms.
Description
A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Masters Science in the department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, at the University of Zululand, 2020.
Keywords
antibiotic resistant, bacteria, wastewater