Antibiotic Pollution Pressure on Bizerte Lagoon Isolated Bacteria

Present work aims firstly to identify the most sold ATBs in Bizerte city. Its objectives are also to quantify the total and fecal bacteria at four lagoon stations near the outlet of Bizerte city Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), to isolate, characterize and study their antibiotic resistance profiles. According to the census, the ß-lactams represented the most sold ATBs (99.8 %) in Bizerte city. Fecal bacterial biomass was higher in sediments mainly in upstream of WWTP discharge (3 106 fecal streptococci/mg). The outfall sediment appeared rich in fecal coliforms (2 105 bacteria / mg). Altogether, 88 bacterial strains have been isolated and characterized. The antibiotic resistance study has identified 100 % of resistance to ATBs tested at WWTP discharge point. Resistant phenotype was omnipresent in all sampling sites, in particular ß- lactam resistance profile.