Molecular detection of antibiotic resistance genes in E. coli isolated from poultry meat

Abstract EN

This study was conducted to determine the presence of Escherichia coli in fresh poultry meat.

Two hundred and thirty samples of poultry meat and liver were randomly collected from different section of a poultry slaughterhouse in Ismailia Governorate.

The isolation, identification, serological classification and antibiogram of E.coli strains using the disk diffusion technique were done.

The detection of alkaline phosphatase (phoA) and the resistance genes of Streptomycin, Tetracycline and Quinolones (Aada1, tetA and qnrS) respectively by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for 9 isolates of different serotypes.

E.coli was isolated with a percentage of 69.5 %.

A total of 25 E.

coli isolates were obtained, of which, O1 (five strains), O18 and O146 (four strains each), O27, O78, O86A, O125, O151 and O159 (two each).

E.coli strains showed 100% resistance against erythromycin, penicillin and tetracycline, 92% resistance against Trimethoprim / Sulfamethoxazole, 84% resistance against Streptomycin, 80% resistance against Amoxicillin /Clavulnic acid, 72% resistance Enrofloxacin and no resistance for Gentamicin at all.

The detection of phoA gene in E.coli by PCR showed 100% of strains carried the phoA gene sequence and all E.coli strains were positive with qnrS, Aada1 and TetA except for one strain, which were negative for qnrS.

It could be concluded that the increasing antibiotic resistance observed in different serogroups of isolates from poultry meat may lead to the resistance to other pathogenic bacteria, beside the failure of treatment strategies for human beings.