Bacteria and Their Antibiotic Resistance Profiles in Ambient Air in Accra, Ghana, February 2020: A Cross-Sectional Study

Inappropriate use of antibiotics has led to the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in ambient air. There is no published information about the presence and resistance profiles of bacteria in ambient air in Ghana. We evaluated the presence and antibiotic resistance profiles of selected bacterial, environmental and meteorological characteristics and airborne bacterial counts in 12 active air quality monitoring sites (seven roadside, two industrial and three residential) in Accra in February 2020. Roadside sites had the highest median temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and PM(10) concentrations, and median airborne bacterial counts in roadside sites (115,000 CFU/m(3)) were higher compared with industrial (35,150 CFU/m(3)) and residential sites (1210 CFU/m(3)). Bacillus species were isolated in all samples and none were antibiotic resistant. There were, however, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas species, non-hemolytic Streptococci, Coliforms and Staphylococci species, of which six (50%) showed mono-resistance or multidrug resistance to four antibiotics (penicillin, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone). There was a positive correlation between PM(10) concentrations and airborne bacterial counts (r(s) = 0.72), but no correlations were found between PM(10) concentrations and the pathogenic bacteria nor their antibiotic resistance. We call for the expansion of surveillance of ambient air to other cities of Ghana to obtain nationally representative information.