Occurrence of Vibrio Species in Marine Sources Surroundings Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean

Abstract

There is a lack of information on the presence of vibrios in the marine environment in the Caribbean. The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of Vibrios in the coastal waters of Bonaire. Fifty samples of marine water collected at different depths from various sources around Bonaire were examined for the presence of vibrios. Species identification was confirmed by KB007 HiVibrioTM, Identification Kit, and TOFEL-MALDI. Forty of the samples contained Vibrio alginolyticus, 33 yielded V. parahaemolyticus and 29 showed the presence of V. vulnificus / V. cholerae. Regarding total colony counts in the sample, 47.4% of the colonies were V. alginolyticus, 35.2% were V. parahaemolyticus, and 17.4% represented V. vulnificus / V. cholerae. Further, of the 25 surface samples from various sites, 14 had a colony count percentage of 50% or greater number of V. alginolyticus. Another 10 sites had a colony count percentage of 50% or greater for V. parahaemolyticus; three of them had a colony count percentage of 50% or greater for V. vulnificus / V. cholerae. The present study constitutes the first study of its kind providing evidence of the prevalence of pathogenic Vibrio species, viz. V. alginolyticus, V. parahaemolyticus, and V. vulnificus / V. cholerae in marine water from the Dutch Caribbean.