The exposure to contaminated water constitutes an important mechanism for the transmission of gastrointestinal pathogens. Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli strains cause enteric infections in humans and include six different categories according to virulence factors. This paper aims at detecting the presence of diarrheagenic E. coli strains in bathing waters of seven beaches of Lajeado Reservoir, in the Tocantins River in Brazil, and to test the resistance to antimicrobial drugs to correlate with possible contamination of the water with human feces. Total coliform and E. coli counts were done by the ColilertTM chromogenic substrate technique. Biochemical identification was accomplished by API20E and detection of virulence factors by PCR, employing specific primers for Shiga, LT, and ST and intimin genes. The susceptibility to 16 antibiotics was tested by disk-diffusion technique. Among one hundred and forty-nine strains of E. coli, two strains of EPEC and two of ETEC were detected in waters of beaches situated in urban areas, close to sewage discharge. These strains presented resistance to three to six antibiotics. Human origin is suggested based on the multiresistant profile of these strains.
Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli; antimicrobial resistance; virulence factors; PCR and river beach waters