Isolation and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of Klebsiella Spp. from Hund Pumped Sources Drinking Water in Kola Tembien, Central Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Klebsiella Spp. is a common environmental human and animal associated microorganism that has become a major cause of nosocomial infections worldwide. The objective of the study was to isolate Klebsiella Spp. and determine the resistance patterns of the organism. Seventy-five hand pump fitted boreholes were selected randomly. Water samples were collected aseptically. Biochemical tests were performed on colonies from macConkey agar No.3 (Oxoid.LTD) for final identification of the isolates. Isolates from all culture positive water samples were identified based on the standard cultural and morphological characteristics in couple with indole production, H2S production, gas production, citrate utilization, motility test, lysine decarboxylation, lysine deamination and carbohydrate utilization tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility test isolates were done against Amikacin, Ampicillin, Ceftriaxone, Chloramphenicol, Ciprofloxacin, Tetracycline and Gentamicin using Kirby-Bauer Disk Diffusion. Among the total of water sampled from hand pump fitted boreholes, five water (6.6%) samples were positive for Klebsiella spp. and Among the five isolated of Klebsiella spp. from water sampled, 2 of them were resistance to Ampicillin and one was resistance to Tetracycline. This study showed that there were Klebsiella spp. from ground water which were resistance to Ampicillin and Tetracycline. Since community acquired antibacterial resistance of Klebsiella spp. has a great public health importance, researchers should give attention like hospital acquired one. Keywords: Klebsiella spp. antimicrobial resistance DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/59-0