Antibiotic resistance among coliform bacteria isolated from hospital and urban wastewaters.

The mean count of coliforms/ml in urban and hospital drains were 68.9×10(4) and 48.4×10(4), respectively.Klebsiella predominated amongst the 16 coliform species that were differentiated;Escherichia coli occurred with highest frequency. All the isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic and resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol was particularly high. Multiple antibiotic resistant strains were common in both environments-85% and 65% for hospital and urban sources, respectively. The difference in the frequency of resistant strains from the two sources was not significant. 20% of strains from the two sources were multiply resistant to six antibiotics. The role of untreated wastewater in the maintenance and dissemination of resistant coliforms and its public health significance are highlighted.