Abstract

*Archibong C. P. and Andy I. E.

ABSTRACT

Sachet water is an affordable drinking water which is widely consumed within the Calabar metropolis. The microbial quality of this drinking water is of outmost significance to public health and can contribute to failure in the use of carbapenems for treatment of bacterial infections especially among the neonates, aged and immunocompromised individuals. This study was undertaken to investigate the occurrence and antibiotics resistance profile of bacterial isolates from the vended sachet water samples. Ten different brands of sachet water from various manufacturers were randomly collected on different occassions and transported to the laboratory for analysis within 18h using the surface plating technique for isolation of bacteria. The isolates were subjected to imipenem susceptibility testing and susceptibility to other antibiotics following Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI, 2009) guidelines. Eleven (22%) of the isolates were imipenem resistant, 24(48%) showed intermediate resistance and 15 (30%) were susceptible to imipenem. The species composition and frequency of isolation were: Salmonella spp (9%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (6%), Aeromonas spp (20%), Proteus spp (10%), Citrobacter freundii (17%), Plesiomonas spp (3%), Serratia spp (6%), Enterobacter spp (17%), Acinetobacter spp, (3%), Klebsiella spp (9%). All the imipenem resistant isolates showed multiple resistance to the antibiotics except Citrobacter freundii which was resistant to only one antibiotic. The number of antibiotics other species showed resistance were Enterobacter spp (10 antibiotics), Acinetobacter spp (9 antibiotics), Plesiomonas spp (8 antibiotics), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8 antibiotics), Salmonella spp (2 antibiotics), Proteus mirabilis (5 antibiotics), Serratia spp (5 antibiotics) and Klebsiella spp (4 antibiotics). The multiple antibiotics phenotype of these isolates is a threat to an effective therapy and may contribute to increased mortality and morbidity rates as well as other outcomes. Consequently, monitoring of the water quality of these vended sachet water should be given a top priority.