Korean Journal of
Veterinary Service

This study was conducted to investigate the antimicrobial resistance, presence of ${eta}$-lactamase genes and integrons in 83 ESBL-producing Escherichia coli isolated from Nakdong river and Geumho river in Daegu. Among the ${eta}$-lactam antimicrobials, all isolates were resistant to ampicillin, cephalothin, cefamandole and cefotaxime, followed by piperacillin (98.8%), ampicillin/sulbactam (86.7%), aztreonam (60.2%) and cefepime (59.0%), whereas resistance to piperacillin/tazobacram, ticarcillin/clavulanic acid and cefoxitin was less than 30%. Many of the ESBL-producing Escherichia coli were also resistant to non-${eta}$-lactams antimicrobials such as nalidixic acid (83.1%), sulfonamides (72.3%), ciprofloxacin (62.7%) and gentamicin (38.6%). All isolates showed resistance to seven or more antimicrobial agents. The most frequently detected gene was $bla_{TEM+CTX-M}$ (49.4%), followed by $bla_{CTX-M}$ (27.7%), $bla_{TEM}$ (6.0%) and $bla_{OXA}$ (1.2%). But $bla_{SHV}$ was not found. Class 1 integrons were found in 61.4% (51 isolates) of isolates, however, class 2 and 3 integrons were not detected. The results showed water from Nakdong river and Geumho river is contaminated with ESBL-producing E. coli isolates. These results suggest the need for further investigation of antibiotic resistant bacteria to prevent public health impacts in the water environment.

Keywords: River water,E. coli,Antimicrobial resistance,ESBL,Integron,