Incidence of multidrug resistant Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from Ponnani, South India

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus has been reported from Ponnani earlier, however incidence of multidrug resistant strains have been encountered recently in clinical laboratories. The source for such strains and their presence in this major fish landing centre has been investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Antibiotic sensitivity tests on isolates of V. parahaemolyticus isolated from three different substrates were conducted following disc diffusion method. RESULTS: Populations of V. parahaemolyticus (cfu/ml) were relatively high in sediment samples (7.67 ± 2.08), compared to shrimp (5.33 ±1.53) and water samples (3.67 ± 1.15). V. parahaemolyticus isolated from water showed relatively higher antibiotic resistance pattern compared to other two groups. The highest incidence of antibiotic resistance was recorded against cephalothin and nitrofurantonine; the lowest was against tobramycin, piperacillin and amikacin. Maximum multiple drug resistant (MDR) strains were encountered from water samples followed by shrimps. CONCLUSION: Results emerging from the present study clearly showed that Ponnani has a fairly good population of antibiotic resistant strains of V. parahaemolyticus. The present study provides an insight on the microbial population of V. parahaemolyticus in Ponnani harbour and warrants the need to develop control measures to reduce incidences of post-harvest contamination of seafood.