Incidence, Antibiotic Susceptibility and Characterization of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Isolated from Seafood in Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is one of the major foodborne pathogens owing to its cause of infectious diseases such as gastroenteritis. These diseases are often associated with the consumption of contaminated seafood. This study aims to investigate the presence of V. parahaemolyticus, their virulence, antibiotic profiles, and plasmid profiles from 77 different kinds of shellfish samples collected from wet markets and supermarkets in Selangor, Malaysia. High densities of Vibrio species ( > 5 log CFU/g) were found in 14/16 groups of shellfish. Among 77 presumptive V. parahaemolyticus isolates, 43 (55.8%) were positive for the toxR gene, confirming the identity of the isolates at the species level. However, none of the V. parahaemolyticus isolates harboured the virulence tdh and trh genes. The antibiotic susceptibility of the V. parahaemolyticus isolates revealed that most of them were resistant to ampicillin (95.3%), ampicillin-sulbactam (81.4%), cefotaxime (37.2%) and imipenem (23.3%). The plasmid profiles of the V. parahaemolyticus isolates showed that 41.9% (18/43) possess at least one plasmid. Our results indicate the V. parahaemolyticus isolates are continuously exposed to various antibiotics in the environments, thus consuming the seafood carries a potential health risk to consumers. The antibiotic resistance conferred by the species necessitates an immediate plan to approach the usage of antibiotics differently.

Insights into Carbapenem Resistance in Vibrio Species: Current Status and Future Perspectives

“…Reassuringly, a majority of the degrees of resistance are not high, mostly less than 10%, except for surveillance reports for environmental samples from Chhatak, Bangladesh [ 139 ], Lagos, Nigeria, Uganda [ 159 ], Eastern Cape, South Africa [ 131 ], Norway [ 83 ]; clinical samples in India [ 57 , 59 ]; seafood samples in Korea [ 134 ], Malaysia [ 27 , 32 ], Nigeria [ 121 ], and Egypt [ 75 ]. The antibiotic susceptibility pattern associated with the 16 Vibrio species covered in the existing surveillance report is highly diverse, with the carbapenem-resistance remarkably prevalent in V. parahaemolyticus [ 32 , 75 , 134 ], V. cholerae [ 59 , 140 ], V. vulnificus [ 60 ], V. fluvialis [ 57 , 131 ], V. anguillarum [ 83 ], and V. alginolyticus [ 75 ]. More worryingly, an increasing trend of intermediate-resistance transpires, indicating an evolution towards the expression of resistant phenotypes [ 140 ].…”

“…Following the plasmid curing assay, the alteration from imipenem-resistant to susceptible phenotype attested to the plasmid-mediation of carbapenem resistance [ 27 ]. Plasmid profiling conducted for V. parahaemolyticus sampled from seafood in a study by Venggadasamy, Tan, Law, Ser, Letchumanan, and Pusparajah [ 32 ] revealed that 42% of the isolates harbored at least one plasmid, with the highest record at four plasmids. In contrast, 14 different plasmid patterns have been identified during the screening process.…”

“…With the fecal–oral route widely accepted as a standard mode for V. cholerae transmission, it is rational to speculate on the underlying risk of acquiring carbapenem-resistant traits through consuming contaminated water or food. Undercooked seafood is one of the most prevalent sources of microbial contamination [ 27 , 30 , 32 , 75 , 133 , 134 ]. Contamination may occur during various stages, such as farming, harvesting, processing, packaging, transportation, and storage [ 121 ].…”

“…It is indeed alarming when the prevalence of carbapenem-resistant organisms has propagated to a myriad of ecospheres, including aquatic environments such as wastewater treatment plants [ 14 , 15 ], drinking water [ 16 ], river [ 17 , 18 ], urban lake [ 19 ], estuary [ 20 ], and coastal water [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. In addition to that, resistant strains are also identified in diverse food sources, including food-producing animals [ 24 ], fresh vegetables [ 25 ], frozen meat [ 26 ], and raw foods, in particular seafood samples [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], thus signaling a direct threat to human health.…”

Evaluation of antibiofilm activity of Thymus syriacus essential oil against clinically isolated MDR bacteria

“…The abuse of antimicrobial agents in poultry farming is one of the main causative factors of bacterial resistance [1,2] . Likewise, irrational use of antibiotics in healthcare [3] renders antibacterial agents ineffective against bacteria such as Legionella pneumophila [4] and Mycobacterium tuberculosis [5,6] .…”