Occurrence of Virulence and Antibiotic Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from the Environmental Water from Tamaulipas, Mexico

<b>Background/Objectives:</b> Antibiotic-resistant strains have been reported in aquatic ecosystems, with varying prevalence and resistance patterns by region. In Tamaulipas, Mexico, little information has been generated on this topic, making it difficult to estimate their potential risk to environmental and human health. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the presence and virulence of antibiotic-resistant strains of <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> in environmental water from Tamaulipas, Mexico. <b>Methods:</b> One hundred water samples were collected from different water bodies in Tamaulipas to identify <i>P. aeruginosa</i> by PCR and MALDI-TOF, virulence gene detection, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and detection class 1 integrons. <b>Results:</b> In this study, 109 <i>P. aeruginosa</i> strains were isolated. Eight virulence genes were identified in 47.7% to 80.7% of the strains, with the <i>rhl</i>AB gene being the most frequent. The strains showed resistance or intermedia resistance to 10 of the 16 antibiotics tested, in a range of resistance values 0.9-66.2%. In total, 100% (109/109) were susceptible to ceftazidime (CAZ), gentamicin (GM), amikacin (AN), netilmicin (NET), tobramycin (NN) and norfloxacin (NOR), and 65.7% were resistant to ticarcillin/clavulanic acid and 53.5% to ticarcillin; the resistance to the remaining antibiotics was between 19.4% and 0.9%. The class 1 integron was not identified in any of the strains analyzed. <b>Conclusions:</b><i>P. aeruginosa</i> in environmental waters of Tamaulipas showed potential to cause infections and low rates of resistance to most of the antibiotics tested. However, 20% were resistant to one of the most common treatments, which could pose a risk to public health.