Evaluación de la diseminación de genes de resistencia a antibióticos en muestras de aguas superficiales, sedimentos de río y canales de agua de riego en cinco provincias del Ecuador

Abstract

In Ecuador, it is estimated that 88 percent of wastewater is discharged into rivers, which present contamination with pathogenic microorganisms and toxic chemicals, which is notable in the rivers of the cities of Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Riobamba, Ambato, Latacunga and Esmeraldas; waters that feed irrigation canals and ditches These points could represent a potential reactor of resistance genotypes that could easily spread through food to bacteria in the human microbiota. In the present research project the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in water samples, river sediments and irrigation canals in five provinces of Ecuador was evaluated. In a higher frequency, the sulphonamide sul1 and beta-lactam blaTEM resistance genes in waters and sediments were detected and quantified using the qPCR technique, genes with resistance to carbapenems (blaOXA-48, blaKPC, blaCMY) and beta-lactams (blaCTX- M and blaSHV) were detected in the channel derived from the Naranjito-Guayas collection point using the PCR technique (conventional). The points mostly affected with ARGs in the province of Tungurahua were: the Ambato-Huachi-Pelileo water channel and the Ambato river sediment; in the province of Pichincha, the water of the Pita river and water and sediment of the Machángara river; in the province of Manabí, in the sediment of the Portoviejo canal. It is therefore established that the rivers and irrigation canals evaluated in Ecuador have a high anthropogenic level, which could act as reservoirs and contribute to the dissemination of ARGs in the environment.