Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from peeled blood cockles (Anadara granosa) sold in Kuala Terengganu

Blood cockles (Anadara granosa) are the natural inhabitants of the marine environment that were harvested from the seawater and can be contaminated with the Vibriospecies bacteria as well as Vibrio parahaemolyticus. V. parahaemolyticusis one of the major seafood-borne disease that leads to human acute gastroenteritis due to consumption of raw or undercooked seafood. Peeled blood cockles from five different supermarkets around Kuala Terengganu were sampled. A total of thirty samples of peeled blood cockles were obtained and the V. parahaemolyticuswere identified. Eleven out of thirty of the samples acquired were positive with V. parahaemolyticuswhen streaked on selected agar (TCBS and CHROMagarTMVibrio) which then confirmed by biochemical test (API 20E strips test) andspecific-PCR method (Vp-toxRgenes). Eleven V. parahaemolyticusisolates were tested for susceptibility to various antibiotics using the disk diffusion method according to guidelines set by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standard. Eight types of antibiotics tested which selected randomly from the main group such as Aminoglycosides, β-lactams, Cephalosporins, Glycopeptides, Microlides, Quinolones and Tetracyclines. Antibiotics tested wereStreptomycin (25g), Penicillin (10g),Cefuroxime (30g), Teicoplanin (30g), Erythromycin (10g), Ciprofloxacin (5g), Tetracyclines (30g) and Chloramphenicol (50g). All the isolates (100%) were found to be resistance to penicillin, chloramphenicol and teicoplanin. However, no isolates (0%) were resistance to streptomycin, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, tetracyclines and cefuroxime. The results of this study provided useful information in the search for safe and efficient antibiotics in treating food poisoning patient due toV. parahaemolyticus.