Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(2): 975-987 975 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.702.121 Occurrence and Distribution of Multiple Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria of Public Health Significance in Backwaters and Aquaculture Farm Hemanta Pokhrel 1 , Sangipran Baishya 1 , Bipul Phukan 1 , Devika Pillai 2 and Mohd Ashraf Rather 3* 1 College of Fisheries Science, AAU, Raha, Nagaon- Assam, India 2 School of Aquaculture and Biotechnology, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, India 3 College of Fisheries, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Development and spread of antimicrobial resistance have become a global public health problem, impacted by both human and non- human antimicrobial usage (Rigos et al., 2010). It is generally acknowledged that any use of antimicrobial agents can lead to the emergence of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms and further promote the dissemination of resistant bacteria and resistance genes (Grigorakis and Rigos, 2011). Furthermore, resistance genes neither respect phylogenetic, geographical nor ecological borders. Thus, the use of antimicrobials in one area, such as aquaculture, can have an impact on the development of resistance in another area, such as in human health in the same country. Similarly, increasing microbial resistance problems in one country can spread International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 02 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Resistance to antimicrobial agents among clinically important pathogens in the community and environment has compromised therapy and requires constant monitoring of emerging pathogens. Current investigation was aimed at determining the antimicrobial resistance pattern in bacteria isolated from public water body near a hospital and also from two fish farms which used the same water for aquaculture. Of 105 isolates, maximum number of isolates belonged to the Enterobacter spp. Multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR), i.e. resistance to more than two antibiotics, occurred in almost 100% of Enterobacter spp. and Streptococcus spp. Of the total 105 isolates, only 6.66% were susceptible to all the antibiotics. Of the 93.33% isolates, 6.1% were resistant to three antibiotics, 44.89% were resistant to 4 to 10 antibiotics 48.97% were resistant to more than 10 antibiotics. Most strains exhibited multi drug resistant character and all the isolates had a very high MARindex, suggesting the origin of the isolates is from an area highly contaminated with antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance indices were found to be highest for Enterobacter spp followed by Streptococcus spp and lowest for Vibrio and Aeromonas group. The results highlight a much higher risk of spreading of MAR from terrestrial environment to aquatic environment which will distinctly affect aquaculture production. Keywords Antibiotic resistance, Antimicrobials, Antibiotic resistance index, Multiple antibiotic resistance Accepted: 10 January 2018 Available Online: 10 February 2018 Article Info