Detail Abstract

Antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from irrigation water in selected urban farms in Metro Manila, Philippines

Abstract

Highly polluted surface waters are increasingly used for irrigation in different agricultural settings because they have high nutrient content and are readily available. However, studies showed that they are reservoirs for the emergence and dissemination of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment. In this study, the resistance of 212 Escherichia coli isolates from irrigation water, soil and vegetables in selected urban farms in Metro Manila, Philippines was evaluated. Results showed that antibiotic resistance was more prevalent in water (67.3%) compared to soil (56.4%) and vegetable (61.5%) isolates. Resistance to tetracycline was the highest among water (45.6%) and vegetable (42.3%) isolates while ampicillin resistance was the highest among soil isolates (33.3%). Multi-drug resistant isolates were also observed and they were more prevalent in water (25.3%) compared to soil (2.8%) and vegetable (8.4%) isolates. Interestingly, there are patterns of antibiotic resistance that were common to isolates from different samples. This provides circumstantial evidence that highly polluted surface waters harbor antibiotic resistant and multi-drug resistant E. coli that may be potentially transferred to primary production environment during their application for irrigation purposes.