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Aeromonas hydrophila is a major waterborne pathogen, which induces various diseases in freshwater fish with the capability for zoonotic potential. This study was applied to investigate the prevalence of A. hydrophila in diseased Nile tilapia fish, genetic characterization of the virulence encoding genes (act, aerA, alt, and ast genes), and antibiotic susceptibility. Out of the 500 diseased Nile tilapia fish samples, 70% (350/500) Aeromonas species were isolated. From which 53.4% (187/350) of Aeromonas hydrophila strains were identified. A. hydrophila was detected in kidneys, followed by liver, spleen, intestine, and gills. The results of virulotyping displayed the presence of act, and aerA genes in a high percentage of 40%, followed by alt gene (30%), but ast gene was not detected (0%) in A. hydrophila strains. Based on DNA sequence analysis of three virulence associated-genes (act, aerA, and alt genes), the phylogenetic tree showed the genetic relationship with related species. Finally, the antibiotic susceptibility tests revealed high resistance toward chloramphenicol (67.4%), followed by amikacin (51.9%) and gentamicin (47.1%), whereas a high sensitivity was exhibited toward meropenem (90.9%), followed by ciprofloxacin (84.2%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (73.3%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (64.2%). The multidrug-resistant A. hydrophila strains were observed in 69.0% of strains with six resistance patterns.

Aeromonas hydrophila, an inhabitant of aquatic ecosystems found in most parts of the world, has considerable virulence potential. The polymerase chain reaction technique was used to assay for the presence of five virulence factor genes: haemolytic toxins aerA and ahh1, elastase ahyB, the enterotoxin act, and the polar flagella flaA/flaB in the A. hydrophila strain isolated from the River Nile. Drug screening showed high levels of resistance to β-lactam antibiotics and tetracycline. Slime production was determined by the Congo red agar plate test. The isolate produced two restriction enzymes named AehI and AehII which are isoschizomers of XhoI and StuI respectively. The complete nucleotide sequence of the cryptic plasmid pAhy2.5 (2524 bp) from this strain was determined. Sequence analysis revealed the presence of two open reading frames (ORFs) encoding putative proteins. The protein coded by ORF1 is homologous with Rep proteins of plasmids belonging to the pC194 family, which are known to replicate by the rolling-circle mechanism. The putative double-strand origin of replication and a region with palindromic sequences that could function as a single-strand origin were detected in pAhy2.5., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)