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Updated: Apr 4, 2026

Isolation and Identification of Waterborne Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Molecular Characterization of their Antibiotic Resistance Genes
Published on: March 3, 2023
Isolation and characterization of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from pharmaceutical industrial wastewaters
Leyla Tahrani1, Leila Soufi1, Ines Mehri2
1Laboratoire de biotechnologie et Valorisation de Bio Géo Ressources (LBVBGR) Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie (LR11ES31), ISBST BioTechPole, Sidi Thabet Université Manouba, Ariana 2020, Tunisie.
Abstract:
Contamination of surface waters in underdeveloped countries is a great concern. Treated and untreated wastewaters have been discharged into rivers and streams, leading to possible waterborne infection outbreaks which may represent a significant dissemination mechanism of antibiotic resistance genes among pathogenic bacterial populations. The present study aims to determine the multi-drug resistance patterns among isolated and identified bacterial strains in a pharmaceutical wastewater effluent in north Tunisia. Fourteen isolates were obtained and seven of them were identified. These isolates belong to different genera namely, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Exiguobacterium, Delftia and Morganella. Susceptibility patterns of these isolates were studied toward commonly used antibiotics in Tunisia. All the identified isolates were found to have 100% susceptibility against colistin sulfate and 100% resistance against amoxicillin. Among the 11 antibiotics tested, six patterns of multi-drug resistance were obtained. The potential of the examined wastewater effluent in spreading multi-drug resistance and the associated public health implications are discussed.
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