Abstract
Introduction: The uncontrolled use of antibiotics increases the emergence of resistant bacteria and makes it difficult to treat the infections. Antibiotics are widely used as growth promoters in animal breeding to control bacterial infections and also as preservatives to increase shelf-life. Development of antibiotic resistance in environmental bacteria has become a serious threat and growing problem for the entire population worldwide.
Aim: To evaluate the Multi Drug Resistance (MDR) pattern of bacterial isolates collected from different fish samples sold in Shaqra retail market.
Materials and Methods: The isolates (80) were identified based on morphological and biochemical characteristics. Further the isolates were subjected to antibiotic sensitivity test by using disc diffusion method and the MDR pattern was studied. SPSS version 23 was used for analysing the results.
Results: Among the 80 isolates 28 (35%) bacterial isolates were Gram positive and 52 (65%) were Gram negative bacteria. The isolates were presumptively identified by morphological and biochemical characteristics as Aeromonas species, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter species, Proteus species, Enterococcus species, and Streptococcus species. Some of these isolates showed resistance to more than one antibiotic used in the present study. The MDR index ranged from 0.33 for Streptococcus species and 0.44 for E.coli strains which is considered as high risk contamination.
Conclusion: Transfer of antibiotic resistant gene from these bacteria to pathogenic bacteria would become a serious threat for the human population in the coming future. The usage of high dose of preservatives and antibacterial agents in the fishes during storage can be avoided.