Abstract:
Human burial in cemeteries facilitates the decomposition of corpses without posing a public
health danger. However, the role of cemeteries as potential environmental reservoirs of drug-resistant
pathogens has not been studied. Thus, we investigated cemeteries as potential environmental
reservoirs of multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogenic Escherichia coli. E. coli isolates were obtained
from water samples (collected from surface water bodies and boreholes in three cemeteries) after
isolation using the Colilert® 18 system. Pathogenic potentials of the isolates were investigated
using real-time polymerase chain reactions targeting seven virulence genes (VGs) pertaining to six
E. coli pathotypes. The resistance of isolates to eight antibiotics was tested using the Kirby–Bauer
disc diffusion method. The mean E. coli concentrations varied from <1 most probable number
(MPN)/100 mL to 2419.6 MPN/100 mL with 48% of 100 isolates being positive for at least one of the
VGs tested. Furthermore, 87% of the isolates were resistant to at least one of the antibiotics tested,
while 72% of the isolates displayed multi-drug resistance. Half of the MDR isolates harboured a VG.
These results suggest that cemeteries are potential reservoirs of MDR pathogenic E. coli, originating
from surrounding informal settlements, which could contaminate groundwater if the cemeteries are
in areas with shallow aquifers.
