Abstract
Multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli infections are a growing public health concern. This study analyzed the possibility of contamination of commercial poultry meat (broiler and free-range) with pathogenic and or multi-resistant E. coli in retail chain poultry meat markets in India. We analyzed 168 E. coli isolates from broiler and free-range retail poultry (meat/ceca) sampled over a wide geographical area, for their antimicrobial sensitivity, phylogenetic groupings, virulence determinants, extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL) genotypes, fingerprinting by Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC) PCR and genetic relatedness to human pathogenic E. coli using whole genome sequencing (WGS). The prevalence rates of ESBL producing E. coli among broiler chicken were: meat 46%; ceca 40%. Whereas, those for free range chicken were: meat 15%; ceca 30%. E. coli from broiler and free-range chicken exhibited varied prevalence rates for multi-drug resistance (meat 68%; ceca 64% and meat 8%; ceca 26%, respectively) and extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) contamination (5 and 0%, respectively). WGS analysis confirmed two globally emergent human pathogenic lineages of E. coli, namely the ST131 (H30-Rx subclone) and ST117 among our poultry E. coli isolates. These results suggest that commercial poultry meat is not only an indirect public health risk by being a possible carrier of non-pathogenic multi-drug resistant (MDR)-E. coli, but could as well be the carrier of human E. coli pathotypes. Further, the free-range chicken appears to carry low risk of contamination with antimicrobial resistant and extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC). Overall, these observations reinforce the understanding that poultry meat in the retail chain could possibly be contaminated by MDR and/or pathogenic E. coli.
Highlights
The rapid global rise of Escherichia coli infections that are resistant to therapeutically important antimicrobials, including first-line drugs such as cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones, is of serious concern, as it hampers treatment of infections leading to significant morbidity, mortality, medical costs as well as production losses in livestock (de Been et al, 2014)
Each cecum and chicken sample was taken out of the Luria Bartani (LB) broth and swabbed on the edge of the plate and spread with a loop, this was done on two separate agar plates; one on unsupplemented Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) agar plate, and another on EMB agar supplemented with 10 μg/ml ciprofloxacin together with 4 μg/ml cefotaxime
A total of 168 E. coli isolates were recovered from 120 poultry samples using both unsupplemented and antibiotic supplemented EMB agar, encompassing 105 and 63 isolates, respectively (Supplementary Table S2)
Summary
The rapid global rise of Escherichia coli infections that are resistant to therapeutically important antimicrobials, including first-line drugs such as cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones, is of serious concern, as it hampers treatment of infections leading to significant morbidity, mortality, medical costs as well as production losses in livestock (de Been et al, 2014). Being part of the endogenous microbiota, E. coli can acquire resistance against antimicrobials consumed by humans and animals (van den Bogaard et al, 2001). Recent studies in different parts of India have reported antimicrobial residues in food animal products such as milk and chicken meat, indicating that antimicrobial usage is widespread in food animal production (Laxminarayan and Chaudhury, 2016). Such practices lead to high proportion of antibiotic resistant bacteria in their fecal microbiota (Chen and Jiang, 2014). Meat at slaughtering operations can be extensively contaminated with fecal E. coli of poultry origin (Lutful Kabir, 2010)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
