Detection and Antimicrobial Resistance of Vibrio Isolates in Aquaculture Environments: Implications for Public Health

The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of Vibrio isolates recovered from four different fish pond facilities in Benin City, Nigeria, determine their antibiogram profiles, and evaluate the public health implications of these findings. Fish pond water samples were collected from four sampling sites between March and September 2014. A total of 56 samples were collected and screened for the isolation of Vibrio species using standard culture-based methods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to confirm the identities of the Vibrio species using the genus-specific and species-specific primers. Vibrio species were detected at all the study sites at a concentration on the order of 10(3) and 10(6) CFU/100 ml. A total of 550 presumptive Vibrio isolates were subjected to PCR confirmation. Of these isolates, 334 isolates tested positive, giving an overall Vibrio prevalence rate of 60.7%. The speciation of the 334 Vibrio isolates from fish ponds yielded 32.63% Vibrio fluvialis, 20.65% Vibrio parahaemolyticus, 18.26% Vibrio vulnificus, and 28.44% other Vibrio species. In all, 167 confirmed Vibrio isolates were selected from a pool of 334 confirmed Vibrio isolates for antibiogram profiling. The susceptibility profiles of 20 antimicrobial agents on the isolates revealed a high level of resistance for AMP(R), ERYR, NAL(R), SULR, TMPR, SXTR, TETR, OTCR, and CHLR. The percentage of multiple drug resistance Vibrio isolates was 67.6%. The multiple antibiotic resistance index mean value of 0.365 for the Vibrio isolates found in this study indicated that the Vibrio isolates were exposed to high-risk sources of contamination when antibiotics were frequently used. The resistant Vibrio strains could be transmitted through the food chain to humans and therefore constitutes a risk to public health.