Abstract

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Animals used in food production have been identified as one of the major primary sources of antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria within the Enterobacteriaceae family. The Escherichia coli harboring metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) is a serious threat to global health. This study was aimed at the occurrences of metallo-beta-lactamase in multidrug resistance Escherichia coli isolated from donkey slaughter market. A total of 75 swab samples were collected from equipment used in donkey slaughters and E. coli was identified using Eosin Methylene Blue Agar (EMBA), MacConkey Agar (MCA) media and other microbiological standard techniques. The E. coli isolates were tested for multidrug resistance (MDR) using disk diffusion method and multiple antimicrobial resistances index (MARI) were calculated. The presence of metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) in multidrug resistance E. coli was confirmed using modified Hodge test method. Thirty (40.0%) swab samples were positive for E. coli, knife had 8(32.0%), table had 12(48.0%) and slab harbored 10(40.0%). The isolates were resistance to tetracycline (40.0% 80.0%), gentamicin (25.0%-30.0%), erythromycin (40.0%-50.0%), ampicillin (70.0%-75.0%) and ciprofloxacin (20.0%-37.5%). Three major antibiotics resistance pattern were revealed from the 14 (46.7%) isolate that were MDR-E. coli which includes; TE-CN-E-AMP-CIP, TE-E-AMP-CIP and TE-CN E-AMP. This study revealed the occurrences of MBLs in MDR- E. coli to be 5(35.7%). The presence of MBLs in MDR E. coli isolated from donkey creates strong threat to the treatment of such infection in clinical setting and it calls for an urgent veterinary surveillance program to monitor antibiotics used as growth enhancers in animal production.

Keywords: Metallo-beta-lactamase, MDR E. coli, donkey slaughter equipment, public health.