ISOLATION, ANITIBIOTIC AND HEAVY METAL SUSCEPTIBILITY PATTERNS OF SOME PATHOGENS FROM DOMESTIC DUMPSITES AND WASTE WATER
ISOLATION, ANITIBIOTIC AND HEAVY METAL SUSCEPTIBILITY PATTERNS OF SOME PATHOGENS FROM DOMESTIC DUMPSITES AND WASTE WATER
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Date
2007-11
Authors
MZUNGU, IGNATIUS
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Abstract
The impact of domestic wastes on the antibiotic susceptibility
patterns of environmental pathogens was evaluated by isolating some
pathogens from dumpsite soil and wastewater. All the isolates were
screened for susceptibility to tetracycline (30μg), ofloxacin (30μg),
gentamicin (10μg), contrimoxazole (25 μg), nitrofurantoin (300 μg),
augmentin (30 μg), amoxicillin (25 μg) and nalidixic acid (30 μg),
using the CILS disk diffusioin technique. Ten samples each of
dumpsite and wastewater samples were also analyzed for the presence
of heavy metal ions using the energy dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence
(EDXRF). All isolates were also tested for heavy metal tolerance on
Mueller-Hinton Agar supplemented with heavy metals, using the
serial dilution technique. One hundred and eighty bacteria isolates
obtained were characterized. These comprised Staphylococcus aureus
(56), Escherichia coli (55), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (69). At
least 16(29%) of Staphylococcus aureus, 35(64%) of Escherichia coli
and 59(86%) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were resistant to at least
two of the antibiotics tested. None of the Staphylococcus aureus was
tolerant to any of the heavy metals tested at the highest
concentration(s) used, but 17(31%) of Escherichia coli were tolerant
to copper and 25(45%) were tolerant to cobalt, while 47(68%) of
Pseudomonas aeruginosa were tolerant to at least two heavy metals.
Correlation between metal tolerance and antibiotic resistance using χ2
test of association (P=0.05) showed (χ2 = 11.5). This suggests that, the
presence of heavy metals in the environment may have constituted a
selective pressure for multiple antibiotic resistance.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA IN PARTIAL
FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (MICROBIOLOGY)
DEPARTMENT OF MICROBIOLOGY AHMADU BELLO
UNIVERSITY, ZARIA NIGERIA
NOVEMBER, 2007
Keywords
ISOLATION,, ANITIBIOTIC,, HEAVY METAL,, SUSCEPTIBILITY,, PATTERNS,, PATHOGENS,, DOMESTIC,, DUMPSITES,, WASTE WATER