Spread of Antibiotic Resistance in Aquatic Environments: E. coli as a Case Study

The aim of this study was to gather information on the spread of antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli isolates from wells, boreholes and untreated drinking water in islands of Greece. We analyzed for antibiotic resistance 235 E. coli strains isolated from untreated drinking water of small rural communities, and ground water from 4 islands. Resistance was tested against Norfloxacin, Ciprofloxacin, Levofloxacin, Amoxicillin and Cefaclor. More than half (54.9%) were resistant to at least one of the antibiotics tested. Of these 26.3% showed multiple resistance (to two or more antibiotics). Strains from drinking water sources were overall more sensitive. Frequent resistance was observed for Amoxicillin (38.3%) and Levofloxacin (28.5%), low for Norfloxacin (5.5%)