Isolation and characterization of esbl producing Escherichia coli from healthy Goats and from their environment in west coastal India

Abstract

The emergence of extended spectrum ß-lactamases (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli in food animals is a serious public health concern globally as it causes severe infections in humans. A study was conducted to describe the occurrence, antibiogram profile and plasmid-mediated genetic determinants and virulence factors of ESBL producing E. coli in healthy goats and in their environment. A total of 168 samples of faecal swabs, soil and water were collected from healthy goats and from the environment of Goa and coastal Karnataka. A total of 111 E. coli isolates were retrieved from 118 faecal swabs and 50 environment samples, with overall prevalence of 66.07% (111/168). From faecal samples, 89 isolates (89/118, 75.42%), soil, 15 (15/29, 51.7%) and water samples, 07 (7/21, 33.3%) isolates were recovered. Multidrug resistance was detected in 19 isolates. Multiplex-PCR detected blaCTX (67.56%), blaSHV (12.61%), blaTEM (14.41%), stx1 (6.30%), eaeA (5.40%) and hylA (0.90) in isolates. Stx2 was absent in all the isolates. The current study implies that goats are a potential reservoir of non-virulent multi-resistant ESBL producing E. coli which harbours resistant genes and may expose to humans via different transmission routes.