Reduction of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacterial Counts in a Mangrove-Riverine System in Capiz, Philippines - Preliminary Data

Abstract

The anthropogenic impact of effluents and indiscriminate use of antibiotics in aquaculture promotes the emergence and proliferation of antibiotic resistant (ABR) bacteria. Comparative total bacterial and ABR counts were determined from 3 locations of the Cadimahan river of Capiz province, Philippines. The upstream station showed lower total bacterial but higher ABR counts, which is the inverse of the downstream station which showed higher total bacterial but lower ABR counts. The ABR counts accounted for 0.0173%, 0.0043% and 0.0002% of the total bacterial counts for upstream, midstream, and downstream, respectively, showing a strong inverse correlation of -0.84 in the Pearson correlation coefficient. This result suggests a remediating effect potentially mediated by microbial dynamics in the Mangrove-riverine system.