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.

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.