Prevalence and antibiotic resistance patterns of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from different types of seafood in Selangor, Malaysia

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a foodborne bacterial pathogen that may cause gastroenteritis in humans through the consumption of seafood contaminated with this microorganism. The emergence of antimicrobial and multidrug-resistant bacteria is another serious public health threat worldwide. In this study, the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility test of V. parahaemolyticus in blood clams, shrimps, surf clams, and squids were determined. The overall prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus in seafood was 85.71% (120/140), consisting of 91.43% (32/35) in blood clam, 88.57% (31/35) in shrimps, 82.86% (29/35) in surf clams, and 80% (28/35) in squids. The majority of V. parahaemolyticus isolates from the seafood samples were found to be susceptible to most antibiotics except ampicillin, cefazolin, and penicillin. The MAR indices of V. parahaemolyticus isolates ranged from 0.04 to 0.71 and about 90.83% of isolates were found resistant to more than one antibiotic. The high prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus in seafood and multidrug-resistant isolates detected in this study could pose a potential risk to human health and hence appropriate control methods should be in place to minimize the potential contamination and prevent the emergence of antibiotic resistance.