Isolation and Characterization of Antibiotic and Heavy Metal-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Different Polluted Waters in Sohag District, Egypt

Isolation and Characterization of Antibiotic and Heavy Metal-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Different Polluted Waters in Sohag District, Egypt

Different polluted water samples were collected from a wastewater treatment plant, agricultural drainage canals, the River Nile, and irrigation canals. The samples were examined for the enumeration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the Sohag area, Egypt over a period of one year. A total of 240 isolates were collected and tested for their resistance to 12 common antibiotics and 6 heavy metals. The isolates were found to be less resistant to norfloxacin(1.7%), ofloxacin(4.6%), amikacin(9.6%), tobramycin (10.4), carbenicillin (15.4), and gentamycin (41.3%), yet more sensitive to rifampicin (75%), kanamycin (89.6%), ampicillin (90.8%), chloramphenicol (91.7%), streptomycin (92.9%), and tetracyclin(96.3%). In contrast, 7.1%, 12.9%, 25.4%, and 53.7% of the isolates were resistant to lead, cadmium, mercury, and zinc, respectively. None of the isolates had developed a resistance to silver or molybdenum. The high frequency of metal-antibiotic double resistance existed between lead and amikacin (56.5%), cadmium and ofloxacin (72.7%), zinc and norfloxacin (100%), and mercury and carbenicillin (94.6%). The high occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in natural water could be related to the widespread use of antibiotics, with possible public health hazard.