Revealing an Abundance of Microbial Fecal Contamination and Multidrug Resistant Bacteria in the Mississippi Gulf Coast
(1) Background: The Mississippi Gulf Coast (MGC) has been greatly affected by microbial contamination-related issues in the past several years. (2) Methods: We analyzed water samples collected from ten sites within the MGC across ten months for FIBs and the distribution of AMR/MDR bacteria. (3) Resu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Water |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/15/13/2339 |
| _version_ | 1797590799637020672 |
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| author | Maitreyee Mukherjee Robyn E. Cuthbert Emma Aitken Kristi A. Gay Katonia McKinney John P. Brooks |
| author_facet | Maitreyee Mukherjee Robyn E. Cuthbert Emma Aitken Kristi A. Gay Katonia McKinney John P. Brooks |
| author_sort | Maitreyee Mukherjee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | (1) Background: The Mississippi Gulf Coast (MGC) has been greatly affected by microbial contamination-related issues in the past several years. (2) Methods: We analyzed water samples collected from ten sites within the MGC across ten months for FIBs and the distribution of AMR/MDR bacteria. (3) Results: The <i>Escherichia coli</i> numbers within nine out the ten studied sites and Enterococcus values within seven out of the ten sites fell well past the water quality criteria established by EPA. Overall, we found very high AMR within both <i>E. coli</i> and Enterococcus isolates, many of which were also MDR. Within the <i>E. coli</i>, 94.6% were resistant to ≥2 antibiotics, 64.5% to ≥3, 41.8% to ≥4, 18.2% to ≥5, and 6.3% to ≥5 antibiotics. MDR patterns in Enterococcus were 87.3% belonging to the ≥2 category, 66.4% belonging to the ≥3, 37.9% falling into the ≥4, 17.9% were in the ≥5, 8.4% in the ≥6, and 3.6% in the ≥7 antibiotics. (4) Conclusions: Overall, data collected suggest the prevalence of concerning levels of FIBs along the Mississippi Gulf Coast revealing a remarkably high percentage of these FIBs being resistant to multiple antibiotics, a concerning number of which were also found to be MDR. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:25:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9d53df511e6149a8bab36f2c14c7e9ce |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:25:39Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-9d53df511e6149a8bab36f2c14c7e9ce2023-11-18T17:46:46ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412023-06-011513233910.3390/w15132339Revealing an Abundance of Microbial Fecal Contamination and Multidrug Resistant Bacteria in the Mississippi Gulf CoastMaitreyee Mukherjee0Robyn E. Cuthbert1Emma Aitken2Kristi A. Gay3Katonia McKinney4John P. Brooks5Department of Life, Earth & Environmental Sciences, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX 79016, USADepartment of Life, Earth & Environmental Sciences, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX 79016, USASchool of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, Long Beach, MS 39560, USASchool of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, Long Beach, MS 39560, USASchool of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, Long Beach, MS 39560, USAUSDA-ARS, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA(1) Background: The Mississippi Gulf Coast (MGC) has been greatly affected by microbial contamination-related issues in the past several years. (2) Methods: We analyzed water samples collected from ten sites within the MGC across ten months for FIBs and the distribution of AMR/MDR bacteria. (3) Results: The <i>Escherichia coli</i> numbers within nine out the ten studied sites and Enterococcus values within seven out of the ten sites fell well past the water quality criteria established by EPA. Overall, we found very high AMR within both <i>E. coli</i> and Enterococcus isolates, many of which were also MDR. Within the <i>E. coli</i>, 94.6% were resistant to ≥2 antibiotics, 64.5% to ≥3, 41.8% to ≥4, 18.2% to ≥5, and 6.3% to ≥5 antibiotics. MDR patterns in Enterococcus were 87.3% belonging to the ≥2 category, 66.4% belonging to the ≥3, 37.9% falling into the ≥4, 17.9% were in the ≥5, 8.4% in the ≥6, and 3.6% in the ≥7 antibiotics. (4) Conclusions: Overall, data collected suggest the prevalence of concerning levels of FIBs along the Mississippi Gulf Coast revealing a remarkably high percentage of these FIBs being resistant to multiple antibiotics, a concerning number of which were also found to be MDR.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/15/13/2339antimicrobial resistancemicrobial contaminationmultidrug resistance<i>E. coli</i>EnterococcusMississippi Gulf Coast |
| spellingShingle | Maitreyee Mukherjee Robyn E. Cuthbert Emma Aitken Kristi A. Gay Katonia McKinney John P. Brooks Revealing an Abundance of Microbial Fecal Contamination and Multidrug Resistant Bacteria in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Water antimicrobial resistance microbial contamination multidrug resistance <i>E. coli</i> Enterococcus Mississippi Gulf Coast |
| title | Revealing an Abundance of Microbial Fecal Contamination and Multidrug Resistant Bacteria in the Mississippi Gulf Coast |
| title_full | Revealing an Abundance of Microbial Fecal Contamination and Multidrug Resistant Bacteria in the Mississippi Gulf Coast |
| title_fullStr | Revealing an Abundance of Microbial Fecal Contamination and Multidrug Resistant Bacteria in the Mississippi Gulf Coast |
| title_full_unstemmed | Revealing an Abundance of Microbial Fecal Contamination and Multidrug Resistant Bacteria in the Mississippi Gulf Coast |
| title_short | Revealing an Abundance of Microbial Fecal Contamination and Multidrug Resistant Bacteria in the Mississippi Gulf Coast |
| title_sort | revealing an abundance of microbial fecal contamination and multidrug resistant bacteria in the mississippi gulf coast |
| topic | antimicrobial resistance microbial contamination multidrug resistance <i>E. coli</i> Enterococcus Mississippi Gulf Coast |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/15/13/2339 |
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