Occurrence and Antibiotic Resistance Risk Burden of Vibrio mimicus Isolates from Seafood and Aquatic Environments

Background: Emerging antimicrobial resistance in Vibrio mimicus (Vm) associated with seafood may exacerbate infections in patients. Method: This study investigated the prevalence of antibiotic resistance and its cross-sample/territory risk burden in Vm from seafood and aquatic environment using hierarchical mixed-effects and antimicrobial resistance risk index (ARRI) modelling. Results: Among the Vm isolates, resistance was highest to amoxicillin (83.7%, 5.3–99.8) and streptomycin (54.6%, 95% CIs: 15.8–88.5), with generally high resistance to penicillins (58.0–98.0%), macrolides (17.2–65.8%), and colistin sulphate (80.2%). Resistance to aminoglycosides, cephalosporins, tetracyclines, and fluoroquinolones varied widely, with seafood and environmental water sources showing similar trends. Notably, resistance to nalidixic acid (47.2%, 17.3–79.4) and doxycycline (59.4%, 3.6–98.3) was prominent. Carbapenem resistance remained low, especially in seafood. Chloramphenicol resistance (32.3%, 2.7–89.0) was higher in environmental water. Trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole resistance was relatively low (5.8%, 0.7–36.1). Ampicillin–sulbactam resistance (43.3%, 5.1–91.5) exceeded that of amoxicillin–clavulanic acid (31.8%, 0.8–96.3). The current data reveal antibiotic resistance burdens (ARBs) of Vm in seafood (ARRI ≈ 50) and waters (ARRI ≈ 46) exceeded that of human isolates (ARRI ≈ 0.01) greatly. Also, it identified Nigeria (ARRI = 7.78)/India (ARRI = 7.35) and Asia (ARRI = 56.91)/Africa (ARRI = 40.12) as hotspots of Vm ARBs. Conclusions: Overall, Vm exhibited diverse antimicrobial resistance patterns across sources with high resistance concerns and high rates against penicillins, cephalosporins, macrolides, and sometimes polymyxins. Thus, it is recommended that stricter regulations on antibiotic use in aquaculture are enforced; wastewater treatment is improved, one-health surveillance is implemented; and education of stakeholders about resistance risks, use of alternatives, and proper cooking of seafood to mitigate Vm-resistant impact is promoted.