Water In Hyderabad Contains Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria: A Research Reveals

A study by US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Jamshoro, has found significant quantity of antibiotic resistant bacteria in water in Hyderabad district.

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Oct, 2018 ) :A study by US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Jamshoro, has found significant quantity of antibiotic resistant bacteria in water in Hyderabad district.

Sharing the findings at a seminar held at the Center in Jamshoro on Saturday, Dr Rasool Bux Mahar, Deputy Director of USPCAS-W and principal investigator of the study, said the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in different water sources of Hyderabad lessen the efficacy of antibiotic medicines prescribed by the doctors to the patients.

He said through the study, the presence of ARB was found in the groundwater, surface water,and wastewater in Hyderabad and its surroundings due to industrial wastes, agricultural runoff, and the waste of humans and animals.

In his presentation, Dr. Mahar shared the types of antibiotic resistance mechanisms, occurrence, and sources of ARB. He also shared the illustrated and detailed disinfection process of ARB including the chlorine, ultraviolet and silver nano particles.

Dr Mahar apprised that the antibiotic resistance offered by seven different types of bacteria was checked by using disc diffusion method and also the health impacts of the bacteria were identified in that research.

He shared that presence of bacteria was observed in drinking water samples and showed a significant amount of Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC) in which the most of the organisms isolated from the samples were, Pseudomonas, Shigella, Vibrio and E-coli.

"Bacterial isolates identified in the study findings have a potential threat to the people living in Hyderabad," he warned.

He elaborated that water distribution network of Hyderabad had some technical flaws which not only deteriorated the water quality of the city but were also providing conditions for flourishing of bacterial growth.

Dr Zulfiqar Ali Mirani, Senior Scientific Officer at Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) Karachi and Co-principal Investigator read out the technical part of the study.

He informed that in total of 501 isolates of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus sp, Shigella sp, Vibrio sp and enterococci that were identified on the basis of biochemical, morphological and cultural characteristics were screened against medically common antibiotics.

He said that microbiological analysis showed that the majority of water samples were not fit for human consumption.

Referring to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards, Dr Mirani said water used for drinking, cooking and washing should be free from coliform and fecal coliform bacteria.

He further said the study found 70 percent water samples collected from the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) system in Hyderabad and 87 percent of river, canal and groundwater samples were not fit for cooking, washing and drinking purposes. "Majority of Reverse osmosis (RO) water samples were also not fit due to high bacterial load," he added.

Dr Hussain Bux Kolachi, a professor at ISRA University Hyderabad, spoke about his typhoid research pointing out antibiotic resistant strains of S Typhi were increasing rapidly.

He said multi resistant strains and those less sensitive to quinolones such as ciprofloxacin were running out of the treatment options making vaccination against typhoid even more imperative. "Typhoid infection prevention is more crucial than treatment," he added.

He said according to WHO there were 16 million to 33 million cases and among them 500,000 to 600,000 deaths occur due to typhoid fever annually. He said that type bar TVC vaccine one dose above six month children was very much necessary.

Dr Jeff Ulman, from University of Utah, USA, said such studies revealed a new dimension of research globally and paved the way for the global health network to tackle those issues.

He said the existing environment and behavior of people could be changed according to the research based findings to live the healthy life.

The seminar's recommendations underlined the need to sensitize the communities, government and relevant authorities through the awareness campaigns regarding the ARB to advise the people to avoid self-medication and excessive use of antibiotics.

It was further suggested that the hospital waste should be disposed of properly and wastewater should be treated properly before its disposal into water bodies because wastewater contained a greater amount of ABR.

It was also recommended that the researchers should develop innovative techniques to deal with ARB more efficiently and that the complete disinfection against ARB would only be made possible when there would be a proper disinfection system in water treatments plants and flaws in the water distribution network were eliminated.

Vice Chancellor of MUET Prof Dr Mohammad Aslam Uqaili, MUET's Pro Vice Chancellor Dr Tauha Hussain Ali, officials from WASA Hyderabad, Public Health Engineering Department, civil society activists, academia and students attended the seminar.