Identificação molecular de Escherichia coli e avaliação de sensibilidade a antimicrobianos

Abstract

The quality of natural resources guarantees the survival and perpetuation of species. In this sense, water is a primary and indispensable resource for the existence of life on the planet. Due to widespread environmental degradation, caused by misuse and occupation of land, water resources are contaminated by chemical, physical and microbiological pollutants. However, some of these lack legislation that provides for the need to monitor their presence or quantification. In the case of microbiological contaminants, Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacterium widely recognized and discussed by science. Initially envisaged as a commensal microorganism of the intestinal flora of warm-blooded animals, it came to be understood as a global health risk, due to its ability to mutate. In addition to having intrinsic characteristics of a pathogen, due to its cellular structure, E. coli acquired greater resistance to selective pressures and virulence to invade and colonize host cells, due to genetic and environmental mechanisms. As a result, conventional treatments used to treat patients have lost their effectiveness year after year and the world health organization itself treats this issue as a priority threat to be neutralized. Thus, considering the large number of infections registered in Brazil and in the world, by this bacterium, it is important that analytical studies be carried out that answer what are the possible sources of contamination and dissemination of this pathogen in the environment, in order to favor the actions of public institutions, in defense of the population. The present work analyzed a historical series of twenty years made available by the Ministry of Health, of outbreaks of diseases transmitted by water and food (DTHA) and from the analysis of these data, an increase in E. coli infections of five pathotypes was identified. From this, field research was carried out, with the aim of studying the dynamism of the bacterial resistance or susceptibility profile on the water surface of watersheds with different land uses and occupation. The results of this research demonstrated that E. coli resistance is prevailing in the most diverse environmental compartments, with greater emphasis on urban agglomerations, which suggests further studies on the persistence of this microorganism in the environment and its pathogenicity mechanisms.