Occurrence of Antibiotic Resistance in the Mediterranean Sea.

Antibiotics (Basel)

Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, 90028 Palermo, Italy.

Published: March 2022

AI Article Synopsis

  • * Researchers used microbiological and molecular techniques to isolate and analyze bacterial strains, identifying significant resistance towards various antibiotics, including cefazolin and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid.
  • * This study not only documents the current state of antibiotic resistance in Sicilian seawater but also serves as a baseline for future research on environmental health and contamination.

Article Abstract

Seawater could be considered a reservoir of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes. In this communication, we evaluated the presence of bacterial strains in seawater collected from different coasts of Sicily by combining microbiological and molecular methods. Specifically, we isolated viable bacteria that were tested for their antibiotic resistance profile and detected both antibiotic and heavy metal resistance genes. Both antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, and , and specific antibiotic resistance genes were found in the seawater samples. Alarming levels of resistance were determined towards cefazolin, streptomycin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ceftriaxone, and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, and mainly genes conferring resistance to β-lactamic and sulfonamide antibiotics were detected. This survey, on the one hand, presents a picture of the actual situation, showing the pollution status of the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily, and, on the other hand, can be considered as a baseline to be used as a reference time for future analysis.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8944634PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11030332DOI Listing

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