Anca Farkas , Rahela Carpa , Edina Szekeres , Adela Teban-Man , Cristian Coman , Anca Butiuc-Keul
{"title":"Epidemiology and environmental risks of antibiotic resistant Enterobacterales isolates in different aquatic matrices from North-Western Romania","authors":"Anca Farkas , Rahela Carpa , Edina Szekeres , Adela Teban-Man , Cristian Coman , Anca Butiuc-Keul","doi":"10.1016/j.epidem.2025.100852","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The most menacing sources of environmental contamination with antibiotic resistant bacteria are effluents derived from anthropic activities. Even when wastewater treatment processes are implemented, conventional methods are not able to completely retain the antibiotic resistance determinants. We propose an antibiotic resistance risk assessment, incorporating the characterisation of ARB, ARGs and MGEs in different environmental compartments.</div><div>Antibiotic susceptibility testing of 678 <em>Enterobacterales</em> isolates revealed an increased degree of intrinsic resistance to erythromycin (77.9 %), high level of resistance to ampicillin (39.7 %), low frequency of carbapenem resistance (2.36 %), and a percentage of 34.4 % MDR strains. The most frequent resistance determinants were <em>bla</em><sub><em>TEM-1</em></sub> (26.5 %) and <em>tetA</em> (8.26 %), while the <em>intI1</em> gene was found in 7.37 % of isolates. Resistant <em>Enterobacterales</em> from aquatic matrices with different degrees of contamination were identified as <em>Citrobacter</em> spp. (n = 46), <em>Enterobacter</em> spp. (n = 35), <em>Klebsiella</em> spp. (n = 54) and <em>Escherichia coli</em> (n = 107). A strong statistical correlation was observed between the presence of <em>intI1</em> and the ARG index (0.768) in resistant <em>Enterobacter</em> spp.</div><div>Distinct clustering of strains was not observed across different environmental matrices, especially in those directly impacted by human-derived bacteria. Also, distribution of ARB patterns and diversity of ARGs was stable from the taxonomic perspective. Dendrogram analysis based on ERIC-PCR profiles confirmed the presence of strains with identical DNA fingerprints in non-related aquatic ecosystems. The epidemiology of resistant <em>Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Klebsiella</em> and <em>Escherichia</em> isolates confirmed an extensive migration and environmental dispersion of strains with human health significance, particularly important for water resources.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49206,"journal":{"name":"Epidemics","volume":"52 ","pages":"Article 100852"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Epidemics","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755436525000404","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The most menacing sources of environmental contamination with antibiotic resistant bacteria are effluents derived from anthropic activities. Even when wastewater treatment processes are implemented, conventional methods are not able to completely retain the antibiotic resistance determinants. We propose an antibiotic resistance risk assessment, incorporating the characterisation of ARB, ARGs and MGEs in different environmental compartments.
Antibiotic susceptibility testing of 678 Enterobacterales isolates revealed an increased degree of intrinsic resistance to erythromycin (77.9 %), high level of resistance to ampicillin (39.7 %), low frequency of carbapenem resistance (2.36 %), and a percentage of 34.4 % MDR strains. The most frequent resistance determinants were blaTEM-1 (26.5 %) and tetA (8.26 %), while the intI1 gene was found in 7.37 % of isolates. Resistant Enterobacterales from aquatic matrices with different degrees of contamination were identified as Citrobacter spp. (n = 46), Enterobacter spp. (n = 35), Klebsiella spp. (n = 54) and Escherichia coli (n = 107). A strong statistical correlation was observed between the presence of intI1 and the ARG index (0.768) in resistant Enterobacter spp.
Distinct clustering of strains was not observed across different environmental matrices, especially in those directly impacted by human-derived bacteria. Also, distribution of ARB patterns and diversity of ARGs was stable from the taxonomic perspective. Dendrogram analysis based on ERIC-PCR profiles confirmed the presence of strains with identical DNA fingerprints in non-related aquatic ecosystems. The epidemiology of resistant Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Klebsiella and Escherichia isolates confirmed an extensive migration and environmental dispersion of strains with human health significance, particularly important for water resources.
期刊介绍:
Epidemics publishes papers on infectious disease dynamics in the broadest sense. Its scope covers both within-host dynamics of infectious agents and dynamics at the population level, particularly the interaction between the two. Areas of emphasis include: spread, transmission, persistence, implications and population dynamics of infectious diseases; population and public health as well as policy aspects of control and prevention; dynamics at the individual level; interaction with the environment, ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, as well as population genetics of infectious agents.