Establishing a marine monitoring programme to assess antibiotic resistance: a case study from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region

The objective of this study was to outline the initial steps required to design, implement, and deliver a multinational monitoring program of the marine environment in the middle east. Seawater was collected from several high risk areas across states in the Gulf Coorporation Council including Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Over five hundred strains of Escherchia coli were isolated and initially tested for antimicrobial sensitivity to ten different classes of antibiotic, with a particular focus on beta-lactams and carbapenems. Isolates showing a phenotype consistent with Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase, AmpC or putative carbapenamase activity were selected for further testing and full genome sequencing.