Diarrhoea is a hallmark of HIV infections in developing countries, and many diarrhoea-causing agents are
often transmitted through water. The objective of the study was to determine the diversity and antibiotic
susceptibility profiles of bacterial organisms isolated from samples of household drinking-water consumed
by HIV-infected and AIDS patients. In the present study, household water stored for use by HIV-positive
patients was tested for microbial quality, and isolated bacterial organisms were analyzed for their susceptibility
profiles against 25 different antibiotics. The microbial quality of water was generally poor, and
about 58% of water samples (n=270) were contaminated with faecal coliforms, with counts varying from
2 colony-forming unit (CFU)/100 mL to 2.4x10
4 CFU/100 mL. Values of total coliform counts ranged from
17 CFU/100 mL to 7.9x105/100 mL. In total, 37 different bacterial species were isolated, and the major
isolates included
Acinetobacter lwoffii
(7.5%),
Enterobacter cloacae
(7.5%),
Shigella
spp. (14.2%),
Yersinia enterocolitica
(6.7%), and
Pseudomonas
spp. (16.3%). No
Vibrio cholerae
could be isolated; however,
V. fluvialis
was
isolated from three water samples. The isolated organisms were highly resistant to cefazolin (83.5%), cefoxitin
(69.2%), ampicillin (66.4%), and cefuroxime (66.2%). Intermediate resistance was observed against
gentamicin (10.6%), cefepime (13.4%), ceftriaxone (27.6%), and cefotaxime (29.9%). Levofloxacin (0.7%),
ceftazidime (2.2%), meropenem (3%), and ciprofloxacin (3.7%) were the most active antibiotics against all
the microorganisms, with all recording less than 5% resistance. Multiple drug resistance was very common,
and 78% of the organisms were resistant to three or more antibiotics. Education on treatment of household
water is advised for HIV-positive patients, and measures should be taken to improve point-of-use water
treatment as immunosuppressed individuals would be more susceptible to opportunistic infections.
