Original Contribution MULTIPLE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM HEAVY METAL POLLUTED INDUSTRIAL REGION

Present study investigated the antibiotic resistance profile of bacterial strains isolated from soil, sediment and waters of Eloor-Edayar Industrial belt of Kerala, South India. A total of 165 bacterial strains were isolated and tested for their sensitivity to 11 common antibiotics (Ampicillin, Erythromycin, Gentamycin, Nalidixic acid, Penicillin, Vancomycin, Novobiocin, Amikacin, Kanamycin, Streptomycin and Ciprofloxacin). Results of the present study revealed that all of the isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic tested. In soil isolates, resistance to penicillin (85.41%), novobiocin (66.67%) and nalidixic acid (60.41%) was noted most commonly and least resistance was observed against gentamicin (10.41%), amikacin (14.58%) and ciprofloxacin (18.75%). Isolates from sediments were highly resistant to penicillin (97.87%), ampicillin (78.72%) and nalidixic acid (44.68%) and low resistance was against ciprofloxacin (14.89%), amikacin (17.02%) and gentamicin (19.14%). Bacterial strains from water showed their high resistance against kanamycin (98.59%), penicillin (97.18%) and novobiocin (80.28%) and least resistance against gentamicin (32.39%), amikacin (33.80%) and ciprofloxacin (35.21%). A total of 31, 35 and 50 different resistant patterns were observed among the isolate from soil, sediment and water respectively. Most frequent resistant patterns were NaPNv (12.90%), PAm (20%) and AkVaNaPKGmNvSCfAm (22%) among the isolates of soil, sediment and water respectively. Many isolates had acquired multiple drug resistance (MDR). Exposition of multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index and resistance patterns of every isolates, which revealed high prevalence of MAR among the isolates encountered in the present work.