DRINKING WATER ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE ENTERIC BACTERIAL LOAD AND PUBLIC HEALTH RISK IN NORTHWEST, ETHIOPIA: A LABORATORY-BASED CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Background: The security of the drinking water supply has been sullied by antimicrobial-resistant bacteria at the source, within the dispersion framework, and amid families dealing with, which may cause intense or incessant wellbeing issues. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the antimicrobial-resistant bacterial contamination, health risk, and associated factors of drinking water in Northwest Ethiopia.
Methods: A laboratory-based cross-sectional study was employed by taking 60 water samples collected from the household tap and drinking water storage container by following the standard microbial analysis method. Besides, a sanitary survey was conducted for the municipal water supply system from March to May 2020. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression models were employed.
Results: The prevalence rate of multidrug resistance Escherichia coli species was 80% (95% CI: 76.9-81.2 %), Salmonella species was 40% (95% CI: 38.7-45%) and Shigella species was 60% (95% CI: 56.9-65%). The overall Health risk index (HRI) of drinking water showed that 45.83%, 41.67%, and 12.5% of them were categorized as low, intermediate, and high-risk classes, respectively. The load and health risk could be strongly correlated with the low residual chlorine of drinking water.
Conclusions: The contamination of drinking water with antimicrobial-resistant waterborne bacteria in the community could indicate an occurrence of treatment failure. Hence, proper drinking water treatment and strict supervision are needed to prevent the contamination of the water and related consequences. © 2022 Ethiopian Medical Journal