Poultry Litter Contamination by Escherichia coli Resistant to Critically Important Antimicrobials for Human and Animal Use and Risk for Public Health in Cameroon.

Frédéric Moffo,Cleophas Kahtita Mbah,Marie Paule Ngogang,Jarvis Bouna Dongmo,Julius Awah-Ndukum,Abel Wade,Fabrice Landjekpo Kochivi,Nabilah Pemi Mapiefou,Hervé Kapnang Djomgang,Patchely Tombe,Mohamed Moctar Mouliom Mouiche

doi:10.3390/antibiotics10040402

Abstract

Residues of antimicrobials used in farm can exert selective pressure and accelerate the occurrence of multidrug resistant bacteria in litter. This study aimed to investigate the resistance profile of Escherichia coli isolated from poultry litter. A total of 101 E. coli strains was isolated from 229 litter samples collected and stored for two months in the laboratory at room temperature. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the disk diffusion method. An overall resistance prevalence of 58.4% (95% CI: 48.8–68.0) was obtained with 59 E. coli strains resistant to various antimicrobial agents. High levels of resistance were observed with ciprofloxacin (21/59: 36%), imipenem (27/59: 45%), norfloxacin (44/59: 74%), ceftriaxone (44/59: 74%), and levofloxacin (44/59: 75%). These antimicrobials classified under the Watch group by WHO are indicators of the high AMR risk to public health in Cameroon. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that a greater probability of high level of E. coli multidrug resistance was associated with lack of training in poultry farming (OR = 0.13, p = 0.01), less experience in poultry farming (OR = 11.66 p = 0.04), and the high frequency of digestive tract disease (OR = 0.10; p = 0.001). This study revealed that poultry litter constitutes a potential source of dissemination of resistant germs from farm animals to the environment and humans.

Highlights

Global livestock production has been growing rapidly and has moved increasingly towards industrialized systems where antimicrobial use (AMU) is an integral part of production [1,2]
The selective pressure exerted by the inappropriate use of antimicrobials has accelerated the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in both animal and human health especially in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) [4,5,6]
In Cameroon, studies have been carried out on the assessment of drug resistance in bacteria isolated from cloacal samples, carcasses of both healthy and diseased animals and eggs [18,19,20,21], but little is known about the poultry environment and their contribution to the spreading of antimicrobial resistant bacteria to public health

Summary

Introduction

Global livestock production has been growing rapidly and has moved increasingly towards industrialized systems where antimicrobial use (AMU) is an integral part of production [1,2]. In many LMICs, most poultry farms have no waste or litter treatment facilities, and it is often used as organic fertilizer or as feed supplements, especially in fish ponds [10,11] This may increase the risk of exposure of antimicrobial resistant bacteria from the waste to human. According to the WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS), Escherichia coli, which is a ubiquitous bacterium, represents one of the best indicator for integrated AMR surveillance It represents the most likely vehicles for the spread of resistance genes from animal to human and litter as a reservoirs of multidrug resistant E. coli from farm to the environment [13,14].

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