Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Drinking Water from the Greater Accra Region, Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study, December 2021–March 2022
Open accessAbstract
With safely managed water accessible to only 19% of the population in Ghana, the majority of its residents are at risk of drinking contaminated water. Furthermore, this water could be a potential vehicle for the transmission of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. This study assessed the presence of bacteria and the antibiotic resistance profile of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in drinking-water sources using membrane filtration and Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion methods. A total of 524 water samples were analyzed for total coliforms, total heterotrophic bacteria, E. coli and P. aeruginosa. Samples included sachets, bottled water, tap water, borehole and well water. Most of the sachet and bottled water samples were within the limits of Ghana’s standards for safe drinking water for the parameters tested. Over 50% of tap and borehole water was also free of E. coli and P. aeruginosa. Overall, of 115 E. coli isolates from tap and ground water samples, most were resistant to cefuroxime (88.7%), trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole (62.6%) and amoxicillin–clavulanate (52.2%). P. aeruginosa isolates were most resistant to aztreonam (48%). Multidrug resistance was predominantly seen among E. coli isolates (58%). Evidence from this study calls for routine antimicrobial resistance surveillance in drinking water across the country and additional treatment of water sources at household levels.
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Two environmental studies reported MDR in E. coli at 28% and 58.3% prevalence.
“while two others reported MDR in E. coli at 28% and 58.3% prevalence [59,60].”
From A Systematic Review on Antimicrobial Resistance in Ghana from a One Health Perspective (2024) · cites this paper as [59]
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- Authors
- Ahmed, H., Zolfo, M., Williams, A., Ashubwe-Jalemba, J., Tweya, H., Adeapena, W., Labi, A.-K., Adomako, L. A. B., Addico, G. N. D., Banu, R. A., Akrong, M. O., Quarcoo, G., Borbor, S., & Osei-Atweneboana, M. Y.
- Affiliations
- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (GH)
- Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
- Médecins Sans Frontières (LU)
- Medwise Solutions, Nairobi P.O. Box 2356-00202 KNH, Kenya
- Malawi International Training and Education Center for Health (Malawi-I-TECH), Lilongwe 3, Lilongwe P.O. Box 30369, Malawi
- Kintampo Health Research Centre (GH)
- WHO Country Office, 7 Ameda Street, Roman Ridge, Accra P.O. Box MB 142, Ghana
- Corresponding author
- Ahmed, Hawa
- ORCID
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2022-09-28
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 19
- Pages
- 12300
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9566567
- OpenAlex
- W4297522832
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 1.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- UK Department of Health & Social Care
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Medicine › Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Fecal contamination and water quality
- Keywords
- antibiotic-resistant bacteria, drinking water quality, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, antimicrobial resistance, multidrug resistance, cefuroxime resistance, tap water, borehole water, bottled water, sachet water, total coliforms, antimicrobial resistance surveillance, Greater Accra Region
- MeSH terms
- Amoxicillin, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Aztreonam, Bacteria, Cefuroxime, Cross-Sectional Studies, Escherichia coli, Ghana, Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination, Clavulanic Acid, Drinking Water
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