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This study aimed to determine the occurrence of vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospital wastewaters and their transmission into public water bodies in Kerala, India. A total of 113 S. aureus were isolated from three hospital effluents in Kerala, India. Standard disc diffusion and the strip method were used for antibiotic susceptibility testing and minimum inhibitory concentration detection. Plasmid-mediated vancomycin resistance was confirmed by plasmid curing and conjugation; resistant genes were detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Nearly 76% of S. aureus isolates were resistant to \u03b2-lactams, chloramphenicol, macrolides, aminoglycosides, and glycopeptide class of antibiotics. Among the vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) isolates, the prevalence rates of vanA and vanB resistance-encoding genes were 46.5 and 59.3%, respectively. Through the broth mating method, vanA gene was successfully transferred from VRSA donor to vancomycin-sensitive S. aureus. The study strongly indicates the contamination of water bodies with antibiotic-resistant bacteria from hospital discharges, their dissemination and possible transfer to microbes in the aquatic environment, posing a serious threat for public health.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2166\/wh.2021.117","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,17]],"date-time":"2021-09-17T14:30:03Z","timestamp":1631889003000},"page":"785-795","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2166\/iwapcrossmarkpolicypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Identification and characterization of vancomycin-resistant<i>Staphylococcus aureus<\/i>in hospital wastewaters: evidence of horizontal spread of antimicrobial resistance"],"prefix":"10.2166","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Sneha Kalasseril","family":"Girijan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Aquatic Animal Health Management, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kerala, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Devika","family":"Pillai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Aquatic Animal Health Management, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kerala, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"945","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,17]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"2021101915245266300_JWH-D-21-00117C1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"293","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejmhg.2014.05.003","article-title":"Role of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the detection of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus","volume":"15","year":"2014","journal-title":"Egypt. 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