Abstract
The rise in the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as Escherichia coli is one of the very important dynamics off-putting treatment and prophylaxis possibilities, hence posing a threat to the modern human medicine, veterinary medicine, and food safety. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine antimicrobial resistance profiles in E. coli isolates obtained from broiler and layer chickens in Mwanza and Arusha regions in Tanzania. A cross-sectional study was carried out from February to March, 2021, in 402 poultry farms in Mwanza (201) and Arusha (201) regions in Tanzania. All samples that tested positive for E. coli were confirmed using MALDI-TOF MS, and two hundred and four (204) E. coli isolates were randomly chosen and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing by disc diffusion method. Data were entered in Microsoft Excel® and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Isolates were tested against seven antimicrobial agents belonging to seven classes of antimicrobials. All the tested isolates (n = 204) were resistant to at least one antimicrobial agent. Overall, the highest resistance was observed in ampicillin (100%), whereas the lowest resistance was recorded for gentamicin (10.3%). Majority of the isolates (86.76%) were multidrug resistant. Antimicrobial resistance of E. coli to four classes of antimicrobial agents was the highest in this study (31.1%). Six of the 177 tested isolates (2.9%) were resistant to the seven classes of antimicrobial agents. 21 of the 204 (10.29%) isolates were ESBL producers where 21/21 (100%) isolates expressed blaTEM genes and only two isolates expressed (2/21) blaCTX-M gene. The isolates obtained in this study displayed high resistance to commonly used antimicrobial agents in veterinary and human medicine. This implies that there is existence of practices that accelerate antimicrobial resistance in the production of the sampled birds and therefore integration of appropriate use of antimicrobial agents and other measures that curb the spread of resistant genes is necessary.
Highlights
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a state whereby microbial pathogens develop resistance mechanisms toward evading antimicrobial drugs [1, 2]. e process is accelerated by the influx of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) to the environment from livestock and human wastes and by the vast quantities of antibiotic residues discharged from the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, and intensive livestock farms
Escherichia coli is a commensal bacterium, but some of its strains have developed a potential to cause intestinal and extra-intestinal infections [10] and have developed resistance to some antimicrobial agents [11]. ese diseasecausing and antimicrobial-resistant strains of Escherichia coli pose a threat to public health and animal health as well as food safety if they develop antimicrobial resistance mechanisms [2]
A total of 402 cloaca swabs were collected from 402 broiler and layer chicken farms in Arusha and Mwanza regions in Tanzania
Summary
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a state whereby microbial pathogens develop resistance mechanisms toward evading antimicrobial drugs [1, 2]. e process is accelerated by the influx of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) to the environment from livestock and human wastes and by the vast quantities of antibiotic residues discharged from the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, and intensive livestock farms [3,4,5]. The antimicrobials use in animals is estimated to increase by 67% (from 63, 151 to 105, 596 tonnes) between 2010 and 2030 as a result of increased use of antimicrobial agents on foods of animal origin and to more intensive animal farming practices in middle-income countries [9]. Ese diseasecausing and antimicrobial-resistant strains of Escherichia coli pose a threat to public health and animal health as well as food safety if they develop antimicrobial resistance mechanisms [2]. E population of chickens in the country is estimated at 72 million, of which 40 million are indigenous chickens and the remaining 32 million are exotic poultry, which includes over 24 million broilers and 8 million layers [16]. At the end of their production cycle, layer chickens enter the food chain as spent birds
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