Antimicrobial Profiles of Selected Gram-Negative Bacteria Recoverable from Sewage and Sludge from Juja and Kibera Informal Settlements of the Larger Nairobi Metropolis

John Maina^1,2*, Perpetual Ndung’u¹, Anne Muigai¹, Helen Onyango¹, Joel K. Mukaya¹, Susan Wambui², Terry Judah², Joyce Kinyua¹, Joystella Muriuki¹, Lynne Chesenge¹, Lydia Kisoo¹, Rebecca Thuku¹, Boniface Wachira¹, Vincent Bett², Thomas Gachuki¹, John Kiiru^2*

¹Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Juja, Kiambu County, Central Kenya, Kenya.
²Center for Microbiology Research, Kenya Medical Research, Nairobi, Kenya.

DOI: 10.4236/aim.2019.96031                

Abstract

Africa has experienced rapid urban migration in the past two decades. New informal settlements continue to emerge and expand but the sanitation provision of facilities has not improved at the same pace and this poses a serious health concern to the public especially the urban poor. Open sewage systems and sludge-clogged drainage systems as well as soil contaminated with industrial and domestic wastes are possible sources of germs that probably cause clinical infections and epidemics. In this cross-sectional study, we recorded diverse genera of Gram-negative non-fastidious bacteria that included; Escherichia coli (23%), Klebsiella spp (21%), Enterobacter spp (19%), Citrobacter spp (10%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8%), Proteus spp (7%), Salmonella (3%), Yersinia spp (3%), Shigella spp (2%), Morganella morganii (2%), Edwardisella spp (1%), Hafnia spp (1%), Serratia marcesence (0.5%), and Acinetobacter baumannii (0.5%). Most of these isolates were resistant to ampicillin while imipenem and ciprofloxacin were the most effective antimicrobial agents. Resistance combination towards ampicillin, trimethoprim, sulfamethoxazole and streptomycin was also noted in recovered isolates (16%). An overall high antimicrobial resistance was recorded among isolates from slum as compared to those recovered from Juja, a middle-class settlement located at the edge of Nairobi metropolis. The prevalence of isolates with a combined resistance to 3^rd generation cephalosporins (cefotaxime, ceftriaxone and ceftazidime), gentamicin and ciprofloxacin was the highest among P. aeruginosa isolates (13%) but none of the Yersinia species and Edwardisella tarda exhibited this resistance. Carriage of bla_TEM (52%) was most prevalent in all bacteria species followed by bla_CTX-M (20%), bla_SHV (18%) while bla_OXA (17%) was the least common. The phylogeny analysis revealed significant genetic similarity among strains belonging to E. coli, K. pneumoniae, E. agglomerans and P. mirabilis strains but less relatedness was noted among strains belonging to C. freundii. Further analysis showed possible clonal expansion of E. agglomerans and K. pneumoniae within the environmental ecosystems.

Keywords

Antimicrobial Resistance, Multiple-Drug Resistance (MDR), Extended Spectrum β-Lactamases (ESBL), Enterobacteriaceae, Sewage and Sludge

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

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