Genetic diversity of pathogenic bacteria and incidence of selected
antibiotic resistant genes in water used by peri-urban eateries in
Kenya.
Abstract
Water used in eateries is a potential reservoir for acquisition and
dissemination of antibiotic resistance, and human exposure to antibiotic
resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in
drinking water may pose an additional health risk. Antimicrobial
resistome monitoring is currently not a routine standard check of
drinking water by health sector in developing countries. In the present
study, culture dependent and illumina sequencing techniques profiled the
occurrence of rich bacterial genetic diversity and resistome conundrum
in water used by eateries in selected open markets. Analyses were done
using R software and QIIME2 software. Heatmap outputs exhibited the
correlation contours of morphological, biochemical, antibiotic
susceptibility and antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) of culturable
bacteria. Results show the following prevalent genera per sampled site;
Wakulima Eateries ( Acinetobacter 44.180%), Wakulima Open Market
( Duganella 28.201%), Gashororo Eateries ( Acinetobacter
15.189%), Gashororo Open Market ( Acinetobacter 30.675%)
Mwerevu Eateries ( Acinetobacter 40.823%) and Mwerevu Open
Markets ( Curvibacter 48.785%). The qnrD and sul2
ARGs were detected in all six samples, int1 and FloR were
present in five samples while strB, catA and blaTEM
were detected in single sample using qualitative PCR. These findings
form critical reference data for development of bacterial pathogen
surveillance toolkit in the area.