Determining the heavy metal and antibiotic resistance levels of bacteria isolated from the Gelevera creek (Giresun)

The purpose of this study is to determine the current heavy metal and antibiotic resistance levels of isolates taken from the Gelevera Creek (Giresun). With this purpose in mind, surface water was collected monthly from four different stations starting from April 2017 and ending in March 2018. After the Gr (-) and Gr (+) bacteria isolation in a selective fashion, the 325 isolated bacteria were tested for their resistance against 4 different heavy metals. The resistence levels of these 325 bacteria against Cd, Cu, Pb and Mn heavy metals were detected respectively as 89%, 60,2%, 33%, 29,8% (Cd > Cu > Pb > Mn). The isolates with high resistance against heavy metals in each station were also tested for their resistance against antibiotics. The levels of resistance against antibiotics of these isolated strains were found respectively as follows: KZ: 69,6%, CXM: 59,4%, NA: 51,7%, AMP: 46%, CTX: 39,1%, MEM: 31,4%, AK: 21,7%, E: 13%, and C: 3,3%. Furthermore, the multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) level of the sample surface water isolates were recorded as 80,5%. In our study, two highly resistant isolates were identified as Serratia marcescens (99%) and Enterococcus avium (91%) using the Vitek-II Compact System. In conclusion, in this study, the isolates taken from the Gelevera Creek (Giresun) were found to be extremely resistance against commercially used antibiotics and heavy metals, and this situation shows that there is an antibiotic and heavy metal contamination in drinking water reserves.