Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of food safety related Vibrio species in inland saline water shrimp culture farms

• Published in: International microbiology 2023-08, Vol.26 (3), p.591-600
• Main Authors: Sudan, Prapti, Tyagi, Anuj, Dar, Rouf Ahmad, Sharma, Chetna, Singh, Prabjeet, B. T., Naveen Kumar, Chandra, Mudit, Arora, A. K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ampicillin; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial resistance; Applied Microbiology; Aquaculture; Bacteria; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cefotaxime; Ceftazidime; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Bacterial - genetics; Eukaryotic Microbiology; Farms; Food Safety; Foodborne pathogens; Genes; Health risks; High resistance; Host range; Kanamycin; Life Sciences; Medical Microbiology; Microbial Ecology; Microbiology; Minimum inhibitory concentration; Multidrug resistance; Pathogenicity; Pathogens; Prevalence; Risk assessment; Saline water; Saline Waters; Shellfish farming; Shrimp culture; Shrimps; Species; Thyrotropin-releasing hormone; Tlh gene; Vibrio; Vibrio cholerae; Vibrio parahaemolyticus; Virulence; Water analysis; Water sampling
• ISSN: 1618-1905; 1139-6709; 1618-1905
• DOI: 10.1007/s10123-023-00323-7

This study evaluated the potential pathogenicity and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Vibrio species isolated from inland saline shrimp culture farms. Out of 200 Vibrio isolates obtained from 166 shrimp/water samples, 105 isolates were identified as V. parahaemolyticus and 31 isolates were identified as V. alginolyticus and V. cholerae , respectively. During PCR screening of virulence-associated genes, the presence of the tlh gene was confirmed in 70 and 19 isolates of V. parahaemolyticus and V. alginolyticus , respectively. Besides, 10 isolates of V. parahaemolyticus were also found positive for trh gene. During antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST), very high resistance to cefotaxime (93.0%), amoxiclav (90.3%), ampicillin (88.2%), and ceftazidime (73.7%) was observed in all Vibrio species . Multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index values of Vibrio isolates ranged from 0.00 to 0.75, with 90.1% of isolates showing resistance to ≥ 3 antibiotics. The AST and MAR patterns did not significantly vary sample-wise or Vibrio species-wise. During the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) testing of various antibiotics against Vibrio isolates, the highest MIC values were recorded for amoxiclav followed by kanamycin. These results indicated that multi-drug resistant Vibrio species could act as the reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes in the shrimp culture environment. The limited host range of 12 previously isolated V. parahaemolyticus phages against V. parahaemolyticus isolates from this study indicated that multiple strains of V. parahaemolyticus were prevalent in inland saline shrimp culture farms. The findings of the current study emphasize that routine monitoring of emerging aquaculture areas is critical for AMR pathogen risk assessment.