Background: Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) organisms in environment may harm people. This study assessed the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of AMR organisms from drinking water and wastewater. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study conducted randomly on 30 samples (15 drinking water samples from household places; 15 sewage lifts stations) and collected aseptically, filtered, inoculated and isolated from culture plates, identified biochemically of pathogenic bacteria, and disc diffusion tested for antibiotic susceptibility. The primers of the targeted antimicrobial resistance genes were used for molecular amplification. Results: Twenty-five bacteria were isolated from 30 drinking and wastewater samples. Pseudomonas spp. (36%), Enterobacter spp. (28%), Escherichia coli (20%), Citrobacter spp.(4%), Acinetobacter spp (4%) and Klebsiella oxytoca (4%) were isolated. Most of the isolates exhibited resistance to multiple groups of antibiotics, with meropenem, imipenem, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and amikacin showing the highest sensitivity against the isolates. Multiplex PCR confirmed the presence of two ESBL genes (blaSHV and blaCTX-M-15) and five carbapenemase genes (blaIMP, blaVIM, blaKPC, blaOXA1, blaNDM1) in resistant bacteria and blaCTX-M- 15 (53.3%) followed by blaKPC (46.7%) genes were the most prevalent from drinking and wastewater samples respectively. According to WHO's sanitary inspection risk score classification, 60% of drinking water samples scored 4 out of 11, categorizing them as intermediate risk based on hazard score. Conclusions: This study addresses antimicrobial resistance in the environment, emphasizing public health implications; advocating for improved environmental regulations to mitigate AMR organism discharge through wastewater and drinking water.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Bangladesh Medical And Research Council (BMRC) (Memo no.: BMRC/HPNSP-Research Grant/2022-2023/613(1-18), Date: 15.01.2023).

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Ethics committee/IRB of Bangladesh Medical And Research Council gave ethical approval for this work(Memo no.: BMRC/HPNSP-Research Grant/2022-2023/613(1-18), Date: 15.01.2023)

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