Abstract

ARPAJON-PENA, Yunier et al. The antibiotic-resistance of clinically significant bacteria isolated from Almendares River in Cuba, addressed as an ecosystem health problem. Univ. Salud [online]. 2014, vol.16, n.1, pp.58-66. ISSN 0124-7107.

The current University has, besides its educational paper, a privileged position as for the protection of the environment by means of the diffusion of the results of its investigations. One of the environmental problems, and therefore health, of greatest concern to researchers today is the antibiotic resistance of bacteria that inhabit aquatic ecosystems. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the presence of bacteria of clinical importance from the Almendares River in Havana, Cuba, as an ecosystem health problem and thus have a more complete vision on the analysis of problem situations about the actual ecological status of this ecosystem, which are being discussed in pre and postgraduate teaching. The antimicrobial susceptibility was determined from 72 strains isolated in vitro on Almendares River through Bauer-Kirby method. The readings were carried out having in the catalogs of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). Isolated resistant to cefalosporins of third and fourth generation were obtained, one isolated of Escherichia coli was resistant to nine different antibiotics, while isolated of Salmonella enterica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus pneumoniae were also multiresistant. It was concluded that the presence of some resistant and multiresistant to antibiotics bacteria of clinical importance, in this river, constitute an important problem of ecosystem health, which at the same time, establishes a potential risk that affects the ecosystem services from which many people from Cuban capital depend.

Keywords : Environmental health; freshwater ecosystems; antimicrobial susceptibility.

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