Study on antibiotic resistance profiles in water samples focusing on Dhaka City (Aftabnagar)

Abstract

Antibiotic resistant bacteria is a significant public health concern in urban surface water specially city areas like Dhaka. Aftabnagar, Dhaka, the minimum inhibitory concentration study of enteric bacteria isolated from water was conducted at a recoverable extent with antibiotic resistance profiles. This work specifically addressed three ecologically and clinically significant groups of bacteria: Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., and Vibrio spp. Isolation was performed on selective media, such as Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) agar, Salmonella-Shigella (SS) agar and Thiosulfate-Citrate-Bile Salts-Sucrose (TCBS) agar. Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of isolates was determined by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. 110 bacterial isolates were recovered for this study. Of these organisms, E. coli was the most isolated organism at 42.73%, followed by Salmonella spp. at 34.55% and Vibrio cholerae at 22.73%. Antibiotic susceptibility results indicated recurrent resistance in each of the three bacterial groups are detected to be resistant to multiple drugs. E. coli showed 32.41%, Vibrio cholerae showed 32.31% and Salmonella spp. showed 40.28% resistance.These results suggest that among the studied water sources, the Aftabnagar source of water serves as probably an environmental reservoir for resistant bacteria. The findings provide first baseline data on the resistance patterns in an urban water body from Dhaka and highlight the need for continuous long-term environmental monitoring, better waste management systems, and education to raise public awareness about antibiotic resistances in aquatic environments.