Prevalence and Multiple Antibiotic Resistance of Vibrio coralliilyticus , along the Southwest Coast of India

Samples from two different estuaries (Cochin and Kumarakom) and a shrimp farm located along the southwest coast of India were analysed for the presence of Vibrio species. V. coralliilyticus, a global marine pathogen had high prevalence in all the three sources. The incidence of V. coralliilyticus was very high in the Cochin estuary (40%) when compared to the shrimp pond (20%) and Kumarakom estuary (19%). The susceptibility of V. coralliilyticus strains to 20 different antibiotics and their plasmid profiles were also checked. All the tested strains exhibited multiple antibiotic resistance, showing resistance towards 5-9 antibiotics tested. Resistance was shown towards amoxycillin, ampicillin, carbenicillin, oxytetracycline, trimethoprim, nitrofurantoin, furazolidone, sulphamethoxasole, erythromycin, while all the strains were sensitive to streptomycin, gentamicin, amikacin, netillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, cotrimoxasole, nalidixic acid, norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin. Multiple antibiotic resistance index varied from 0.25 to 0.55. Forty-three per cent of the isolates harboured 1-3 plasmids, with size ranging from 0.5 to 33 kb. Thus the present study demonstrates the high incidence, multiple antibiotic resistance and plasmid profiling of V. coralliilyticus from the southwest coast of India.