Multiple Antibiotic-Resistant, Extended Spectrum-β-Lactamase (ESBL)-Producing Enterobacteria in Fresh Seafood

Asem Sanjit Singh; Manjusha Lekshmi; Sreepriya Prakasan; Binaya Bhusan Nayak; Sanath Kumar

doi:10.3390/microorganisms5030053

Multiple Antibiotic-Resistant, Extended Spectrum-β-Lactamase (ESBL)-Producing Enterobacteria in Fresh Seafood

Microorganisms. 2017 Aug 30;5(3):53. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms5030053.

Authors

Asem Sanjit Singh¹, Manjusha Lekshmi², Sreepriya Prakasan³, Binaya Bhusan Nayak⁴, Sanath Kumar⁵

Affiliations

¹ Quality Control Laboratory, Post Harvest Technology Department, Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai 400061, India. sanjitasem21@gmail.com.
² Quality Control Laboratory, Post Harvest Technology Department, Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai 400061, India. manjusha@cife.edu.in.
³ Quality Control Laboratory, Post Harvest Technology Department, Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai 400061, India. sreepriya.phtpa501@cife.edu.in.
⁴ Quality Control Laboratory, Post Harvest Technology Department, Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai 400061, India. nayakbb@cife.edu.in.
⁵ Quality Control Laboratory, Post Harvest Technology Department, Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai 400061, India. sanathkumar@cife.edu.in.

Abstract

Members of the family Enterobacteriaceae include several human pathogens that can be acquired through contaminated food and water. In this study, the incidence of extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing enterobacteria was investigated in fresh seafood sold in retail markets. The ESBL-positive phenotype was detected in 169 (78.60%) isolates, with Escherichia coli being the predominant species (53), followed by Klebsiella oxytoca (27), and K. pneumoniae (23). More than 90% of the isolates were resistant to third generation cephalosporins, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, and cefpodoxime. Sixty-five percent of the isolates were resistant to the monobactam drug aztreonam, 40.82% to ertapenem, and 31.36% to meropenem. Resistance to at least five antibiotics was observed in 38.46% of the isolates. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis of ESBL-encoding genes detected bla_CTX, bla_SHV, and bla_TEM genes in 76.92%, 63.3%, and 44.37% of the isolates, respectively. Multiple ESBL genes were detected in majority of the isolates. The recently discovered New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase gene (bla_NDM-1) was detected in two ESBL⁺ isolates. Our study shows that secondary contamination of fresh seafood with enteric bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics may implicate seafood as a potential carrier of antibiotic resistant bacteria and emphasizes an urgent need to prevent environmental contamination and dissemination of such bacteria.

Keywords: ESBL; antibiotic resistance; blaNDM; enterobacteria; seafood.