Program
 
General Session 4: Marine environment, ecosystem & sustainability
 
 
 
Poster
Sulfonamide residues and resistance genes in Taiping river estuary, Perak
GS4-41-S
Lye Ying Ling* , Universiti Malaya
Bong Chui Wei, Universiti Malaya
Chai Lay Ching, Universiti Malaya
Presenter Email: lyeyingling@gmail.com
Sulfonamides (SAs) are widely used for clinical and veterinary purposes due to their efficacy and low cost. Due to their persistence in the environment and their relatively high mobility, SA pose potential public health risk with regard to the propagation of antibiotic resistance. To access the distribution of SA residues and the distribution of sulfonamide resistant bacteria (SRB) and their resistance genes (sul 1, sul 2 and sul 3), surface water samples were collected from nine sampling sites situated upstream and downstream of Taiping river estuary including the runoffs from hospital, zoo and slaughterhouse were examined. SA residues were extracted and quantified using soild phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass chromatography (LC¨CMS/MS). SRB were isolated using TSA and CHROMagarTM Orientation supplemented with 60 ¦Ìg of sulfomethoxazole (SMX) and their resistance genes were detected by PCR. The SA residues detected in the water samples ranged from 0.19 to 91.4 ng/L. SRB ranged from zero to 2.8 x 107 CFU/mL. Relatively high average abundance of SRB was detected in the runoffs from the zoo, slaughterhouse, hospital and also Kota river which is located at the immediate downstream of the town (5.1 x 104 to 2.8 x 107 CFU/mL). The frequency of SRGs was sul 2 > sul 1 > sul 3. The combination of sul 1 and sul 2 was the most frequent whereas co-existence of both sul 1 and sul 3 and sul 2 and sul 3 were low. The coexistence of sul 1, sul 2 and sul 3 was present in low occurrence in this study. The identification of the SRB is still on-going.