Abstract
Sewage treatment facilities aim to reduce biological contaminants such as pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses in wastewaters before discharging them to the receiving water bodies. However, several studies have shown the persistence of these contaminants throughout the sewage treatment process. In this study, the Vitek 2 compact system was used to detect the presence of Escherichia coli in three sewage treatment facilities located in the Pietermaritzburg urban area (South Africa), and its susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. E. coli has been recognized as an important Gram-negative rod-shaped human pathogen. The effluent and influent samples were analysed to determine the fate of E. coli and its susceptibility to 17 antimicrobial agents. The system identified the presence of drug-resistant E. coli in all of the tested samples, with the highest susceptibility being to ampicillin (33%) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (27%). The Vitek 2 compact system is a quick and powerful tool to identify antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in effluents and monitoring by this systemcan be used to prevent the outbreak of waterborne diseases.
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