Prevalence and Characteristics of Streptococcus agalactiae from Freshwater Fish and Pork in Hong Kong Wet Markets

Abstract

We report the antimicrobial resistance of 191 fish and 61 pork Group B Streptococcus (GBS) procured from Hong Kong wet markets. Two-hundred-and-fifty-two GBS strains were isolated from 992 freshwater fish and 361 pig offal during 2016–2019. The strains were isolated from homogenised samples and plated on selective media, followed by identification through MALDI-TOF-MS. Molecular characterisation, an antibiotic susceptibility test, and biofilm formation were performed on the strains. The isolation rates of the fish GBS and pig GBS were 19.3% (191 strains from 992 freshwater fish) and 16.9% (61 strains from 361 pig organs), respectively. The fish GBS was predominantly serotype Ia, ST7, while pig GBS was serotype III, ST651 (45 strains). An antibiotic susceptibility test revealed that the fish GBS were mostly antibiotic-sensitive, while the pig GBS were multidrug-resistant. A biofilm formation experiment showed that over 71% of fish GBS and all pig GBS had moderate biofilm formation ability. In general, the prevalence rate of GBS in animals and the multidrug resistance phenotype presented in the strains raise concerns about its zoonotic potential and effects on public health.

Colonization of Group B Streptococcus in Pregnant Women and Their Neonates from a Sri Lankan Hospital

“…GBS strains were subjected to serotyping by multiplex PCR as previously described [32][33][34]. Briefly, two to four bacterial colonies were incubated at 94 • C for five minutes in 200 µL lysis buffer (0.25% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 0.05 N NaOH) and centrifuged at 16,000 X g for five minutes before differentiating serotypes Ia, Ib, II-IX.…”

One Health and research with freshwater fish: A systematic review

“…Among the remaining 20 articles that employed intrinsic relationships between One Health and fish, eight were reviews rather than primary ones. Consequently, 12 final articles met all the criteria pre-established by this systematic review (Figure-1 and Table -3) [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

“…Alhaji et al 2021 [12] Nigeria, West Africa Food control Scopus Brunton et al 2019 [13] Vietnam, Southeast Asia Science of the total environment Scopus Sapugahawatte et al 2022 [14] Hong Kong, China Antibiotics PubMed Das et al 2020 [15] Khorda, India JMIR research protocols Scopus Cerdeira et al 2020 [16] Belém, Brazil Genomics Scopus Minja et al 2021 [17] Tanzânia, East Africa Antibiotics Scopus Sapugahawatte et al 2020 [18] Hong Kong, China mSphere PubMed Pace et al 2020 [19] Naples [23] Uganda, East Africa Cogent Food and agriculture PubMed identify emergency hotshots of antibiotic-resistant bacteria attributed to human exposure. Thus, the results revealed that the growth stage of individuals is crucial for the emergence of highly resistant bacteria due to the exacerbated use of antimicrobials and the consequent exposure to contaminated water.…”

Quantification of insecticides in commercial seafood sold in East Asian markets: risk assessment for consumers

“…Macau and Hong Kong, both situated in the PRD Bay, are two densely populated regions (over 22,000 and 6700 hab./km 2 , respectively) that depend on the Hong Kong and Guangdong province fish industry (Chen et al 2008;AFCD 2021). For example, in Hong Kong, fresh food products are usually purchased from wet markets (Sapugahawatte et al 2022). It is also known that Hong Kong's demand and consumption of seafood is substantial, with a per capita average consumption of 66.5 kg, ranking second in Asia in 2017, showing the importance of these markets in the region (World Wildlife Fund n.d.).…”