Antibiotic and Heavy Metal Resistance in Bacteria Isolated from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea Coast

In this study it aimed to determine the microbial diversity, level of antibiotic resistance patterns and distribution of heavy metal resistance of bacterial isolates from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea coast. The resistance of 255 Gram-negative bacterial isolates to 16 different antibiotics and to 5 heavy metals was investigated. The most common strains isolated from all samples were Citrobacter koseri (9.0 %), Escherichia coli (8.2 %) and Pantoea agglomerans (8.2 %). Our results revealed a high incidence of resistance to ampicillin (74.0 %), streptomycin (70.0 %) and cefazolin (48.3 %). The multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index ranged from 0.2 to 0.75. Isolates showed tolerances to different concentrations of heavy metals. Our results show that the Eastern Mediterranean Sea coast has a significant proportion of antibiotic and heavy metal resistant pathogens, or opportunist Gram-negative bacteria, and these bacteria may result in a potential public health hazard.