Multidrug resistance and integrons in escherichia coli isolated from food-producing animals in Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

Transference of antimicrobial resistance gene determinants by integrons is one of the important factors that can contribute to the increase in multidrug-resistant bacteria.

The present study aimed to investigate 56 strains of animal-derived E.

coli strains obtained from fecal materials of slaughtered food animals for their resistance to commonly used antimicrobial agents for presence of integrons and detection of mercury reductase gene (MerA) as indicative for presence of transposons.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) was found in 38 (68%) of the strains as indicated by disk diffusion method.

The most frequent resistance patterns was to Ampicillin, Sulfonamides, Nalidixic acid, Cephalosporin's, Tetracycline, and Aamoxicillin/Clavulanic acid.

None of tested strains were resistant to Cefepime or Imipenem.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results showed the presence of integrons in 26 (68.4%) of MDR strains tested as well as the mercury resistance gene in 12 (46.2%) of strains with integrons, indicating the role of Tn21 transposon in dissemination of the integrons and their gene cassettes within the samples studied.

Our results showed high resistance rate of E.

coli from food animals to routine antibiotics and indicate that integrons and transposon are common among MDR isolates of food producing isolates in Saudi Arabia.