Contamination of surface waters in underdeveloped countries is a great concern. Treated and untreated
wastewaters have been discharged into rivers and streams, leading to possible waterborne infection
outbreaks which may represent a significant dissemination mechanism of antibiotic resistance genes
among pathogenic bacterial populations.
The present study aims to determine the multi-drug resistance patterns among isolated and identified
bacterial strains in a pharmaceutical wastewater effluent in north Tunisia. Fourteen isolates were obtained
and seven of them were identified. These isolates belong to different genera namely, Pseudomonas,
Acinetobacter, Exiguobacterium, Delftia and Morganella. Susceptibility patterns of these isolates were
studied toward commonly used antibiotics in Tunisia. All the identified isolates were found to have 100%
susceptibility against colistin sulfate and 100% resistance against amoxicillin. Among the 11 antibiotics
tested, six patterns of multi-drug resistance were obtained. The potential of the examined wastewater
effluent in spreading multi-drug resistance and the associated public health implications are discussed.