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Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance of Enterococcal Species in Sewage Treatment Plants in Iran

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Abstract

We investigated for the first time the occurrence, stability and antibiotic resistance of 593 enterococci in six samples collected from three urban sewage treatment plants (STPs) located in the north, south and west part of Tehran, Iran between October 2004 and September of 2005. Isolates were typed with a biochemical fingerprinting method (the PhPlate system) and tested for their resistance to six antibiotics. The most prevalent species in all three STPs were E. faecium followed by E. hirae and E. faecalis accounting for 93% of the total isolates examined. In all, 317 (55%) isolates were susceptible to all six antibiotics tested and the remaining isolates were resistant to between 1 and 6 antibiotics. Biochemical fingerprinting with PhPlate system showed a high diversity for E. faecalis (D i = 0.95), E. hirae (D i = 0.93) and E. faecium (D i = 0.95) populations with an overall diversity of D i = 0.97 for the whole enterococcal populations found in all three STPs. Our data indicate a high degree of polyclonality among the enterococci populations of human origin. This study suggest that the municipal wastewaters might be an important source of dissemination of antibiotic-resistant enterococci in Iran.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office grant no: R6/18/3, Swedish international development cooperation agency (Sida) grant no: 6342 and Ministry of Health of Iran, under-secretariat of research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran

    M. Talebi, F. Rahimi & M. R. Pourshafie

  2. Department of Bacteriology, School of Public Health, Tehran Medical University, Tehran, Iran

    M. Talebi & S. Eshraghi

  3. Faculty of Science, Health and Education, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, 4558, Australia

    M. Katouli

  4. Microbiology, Tumor and Cell biology Centre, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden

    I. Kühn & R. Möllby

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  1. M. Talebi
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  2. F. Rahimi
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  3. M. Katouli
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  4. I. Kühn
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  5. R. Möllby
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  6. S. Eshraghi
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  7. M. R. Pourshafie
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Correspondence to M. R. Pourshafie.

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Talebi, M., Rahimi, F., Katouli, M. et al. Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance of Enterococcal Species in Sewage Treatment Plants in Iran. Water Air Soil Pollut 185, 111–119 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-007-9435-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-007-9435-8

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