Detection of mecA positive staphylococcal species in a wastewater treatment plant in South Africa.

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int

Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, Microbiology Group, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa.

Published: November 2023

AI Article Synopsis

  • * The isolates showed extremely high resistance rates to multiple antibiotics, with 91% resistant to methicillin and other significant resistances, indicating a serious public health concern.
  • * The study raises alarms about treated wastewater potentially harboring resistant bacteria, which could contaminate environmental waters used for recreation, drinking, and agricultural purposes in rural communities.

Article Abstract

We investigated the prevalence of antibiotic resistant staphylococci and detection of resistant, virulence, and Spa genes in a South African wastewater treatment plant. Species identified were Staphylococcus aureus, S. lentus, S. arlettae, S. cohnii, S. haemolyticus, S. nepalensis, S. sciuri (now Mammaliicoccus sciuri), and S. xylosus. Isolates showed high resistance to methicillin (91%), ampicillin (89%), ciprofloxacin (86%), amoxycillin (80%), ceftazidime (74%), and cloxacillin (71%). Multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index for the isolates exceeded 0.2 (0.50-0.70). Among the isolates, 77% were mecA-positive. All S. aureus strains were positive for nuc and 7 Spa gene types. The present study highlights possibility of treated wastewaters being potential reservoir for antibiotic-resistant staphylococci. This is a cause for concern as wastewater effluents are decanted into environmental waters and these are, in many cases, used for various purposes including recreation (full contact), religious (full body submersion), and drinking water for some rural communities and water for livestock.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10682275PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30319-9DOI Listing

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