Occurrence of Antibiotic-Resistant Staphylococcus spp. in Orange Orchards in Thailand

Siwalee Rattanapunya, Aomhatai Deethae, Susan Woskie, Pornpimol Kongthip and Karl R. Matthews
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Siwalee Rattanapunya: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Science and Technology, Chiang Mai Rajabhat University, Chiang Mai 50300, Thailand
Aomhatai Deethae: Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Chiang Mai Rajabhat University, Chiang Mai 50300, Thailand
Susan Woskie: Department of Public Health, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
Pornpimol Kongthip: Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Karl R. Matthews: Department of Food Science, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Background: The widespread indiscriminate application of antibiotics to food crops to control plant disease represents a potential human health risk. In this study, the presence of antibiotic-resistant staphylococci associated with workers and orange orchard environments was determined. A total of 20 orchards (orange and other fruits) were enrolled in the study. Trees in the orange orchards were treated with ampicillin on a pre-determined schedule. Environmental samples (n = 60) included soil, water, and oranges; 152 hand and nasal samples were collected from 76 healthy workers. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles were determined for all staphylococcal isolates. Results: This investigation revealed that of the total Staphylococcus spp. recovered from the orange orchard, 30% (3/10) were resistant to erythromycin, 20% (2/10) were resistant to ampicillin, and 20% (2/10) resistant to both erythromycin and ampicillin. Conclusion: The application of antibiotics to orange trees in open production environments to halt the spread of bacterial disease presents risks to the environment and creates health concerns for Thai farmers using those agents. ARB on crops such as oranges may enter the global food supply and adversely affect public health.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance; Staphylococcus spp.; orange orchards (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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