Abstract

ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE OF CITROBACTER SPP. ISOLATED FROM LAKES OF UDAIPUR, INDIA

Inu Rawal, Harshada Joshi* and B. L. Chaudhary

Abstract

Citrobacter is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infection, respiratory tract infection and acute meningitis. In health care settings Citrobacter species have become an increasing cause of concern as they are multi drug resistant (MDR) and associated with high mortality between 30-60%. In the present study an attempt has been made to isolate Citrobacter spp. from lakes of Udaipur namely Fateh sagar and Pichhola and to test their antibiotic resistance against 15 commonly used antibiotics i.e. gentamycin, kanamycin, tetracycline, erythromycin, ampicillin, penicillin, polymyxin B, amikacin, ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, rifampicin, chloremphenicol, streptomycin, cefixime, trimethoprim by disc diffusion method. A total of 12 strains were isolated, tentatively identified and grouped into 2 species as Citrobacter freundii and Citrobacter braakii according to their biochemical characteristics. Genomic DNA of these isolates was extracted and amplified with universal primers 27 F and 1492 R. The amplified products were subjected to sequencing to confirm their identification. All the strains which were identified as Citrobacter freundii were found resistant to 7 antibiotics namely ampicillin, penicillin, vancomycin, kanamycin, polymyxin B, rifampicin, and streptomycin. All the strains which were identified as Citrobacter braakii were found resistant to 8 antibiotics namely ampicillin, penicillin, vancomycin, kanamycin, polymyxin B, rifampicin, erythromycin and streptomycin, out of 15 antibiotics used in the study. The results indicated that the water of both the lakes was contaminated with multiantibiotic resistant enteric pathogenic bacteria. This study thus provides valuable information for making policy decisions aimed at reducing microbial contamination of lake water and the indiscriminate use of antibiotics.

Keywords: Citrobacter braakii, Citrobacter freundii, Fateh Sagar, Pichhola, lake, Udaipur.