Isolation, Identification and Antibacterial Agents Resistance among Enterobacteriaceae Spp. in Fish of the Eastern Mediterranean

The aim of the present study was to determine the level of antibiotic resistance patterns of bacterial isolates from Eastern Mediterranean fish in Turkey. The resistance of 93 Enterobacteriaceae isolates from gills to 10 different antibiotics belonging 7 classes (which most using in Turkey), was investigated by agar diffusion method. A total 13 species of bacteria were isolated: the most common strains were Enterobacter cloacae (49.5%) following by Klebsiella oxytoca (15.1%). Fish may contaminate with discharge of urban or hospital sewages. There was a high incidence of resistance to ampicillin (66.7%), and cefazolin (47.3%), and a low incidence of resistance to kanamycin (1.1%) and cefepime (1.1%). Results show that Eastern Mediterranean fish have significant proportion of antibiotic resistant Gram-negative bacteria, and these bacteria constitute a potential risk for fish population and public health. At the same time, antibiotic resistant pathogens in the aquatic environments may play role as a reservoir for resistance genes.