{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T22:14:17Z","timestamp":1780092857292,"version":"3.54.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,13]],"date-time":"2022-01-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642032000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001321","name":"National Research Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["114384"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["114384"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001321","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>SCUBA divers are predisposed to otitis externa caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is becoming increasingly multi-drug resistant (MDR). The present work assessed the antibiotic resistance profiles of P. aeruginosa obtained from SCUBA divers and their environment in Sodwana Bay, South Africa. Bacterial isolates from a total of 137 random water and ear swab samples were identified using biochemical and molecular methods. P. aeruginosa strains were further evaluated for antibiotic susceptibility using the Kirby\u2013Bauer assay. Double disk synergy test (DDST) to confirm metallo-\u03b2-lactamase (MBL) production and PCR amplification of specific antibiotic resistance genes was performed. All (100%) 22 P. aeruginosa isolates recovered were resistant to 6 of the \u03b2-lactams tested including imipenem but exhibited susceptibility to trimethoprim\u2013sulfamethoxazole. MBL production was observed in 77% of isolates while the most prevalent extended-spectrum \u03b2-lactamase (ESBL) genes present included blaAmpC (86.9%) followed by blaTEM (82.6%). Sulfonamide resistance was largely encoded by sul1 (63.6%) and sul2 (77.3%) genes with a high abundance of class 1 integrons (77.3%) of which 18.2% carried both Intl1 and Intl2. P. aeruginosa found in Sodwana Bay exhibits multi-drug resistance (MDRce) to several pharmaceutically important drugs with the potential to transfer antibiotic resistance to other bacteria if the judicious use of antibiotics for their treatment is not practiced.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens11010091","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,14]],"date-time":"2022-01-14T03:14:03Z","timestamp":1642130043000},"page":"91","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiles among Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from Professional SCUBA Divers with Otitis Externa, Swimming Pools and the Ocean at a Diving Operation in South Africa"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Kevin","family":"Maclean","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Faculty of Science, Doornfontein Campus, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein 2028, Johannesburg P.O. Box 17011, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fernande Olpa J Pankendem","family":"Njamo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Faculty of Science, Doornfontein Campus, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein 2028, Johannesburg P.O. Box 17011, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0573-181X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mahloro Hope","family":"Serepa-Dlamini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Faculty of Science, Doornfontein Campus, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein 2028, Johannesburg P.O. Box 17011, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4174-7496","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kulsum","family":"Kondiah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Faculty of Science, Doornfontein Campus, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein 2028, Johannesburg P.O. Box 17011, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4962-0724","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ezekiel","family":"Green","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Faculty of Science, Doornfontein Campus, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein 2028, Johannesburg P.O. Box 17011, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"481","article-title":"Microbiological safety of household membrane water filter","volume":"34","author":"Zhang","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Environ. Biol."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"21","article-title":"Ear disorders in Scuba Divers","volume":"2","author":"Azizi","year":"2011","journal-title":"Int. J. Occup. Environ. Med."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"547","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm6719a3","article-title":"Outbreaks associated with treated recreational water\u2014United States, 2000\u20132014","volume":"67","author":"Hlavsa","year":"2018","journal-title":"Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Mandell, E.J., Dolin, R., and Blaser, M.J. (2017). Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other pseudomonas species. Infectious Disease Essentials, Elsevier. 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