Antibiotic resistance has increased in recent years, raising the concern of public
health authorities. We conducted a study of Escherichia coli
isolates obtained from human and food samples to assess the prevalence of
antimicrobial resistance and to determine the genotype and clonal relationship of 84
E. coli isolates (48 from humans and 36 from foods). An
antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed using the disk diffusion method.
Virulence factors were evaluated by multiplex PCR, and the clonal relationship among
the resistant isolates was studied by Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). All
isolates were susceptible to ceftriaxone. Overall, 26%, 20.2%, 15.4% and 6% of the
isolates were resistant to tetracycline, ampicillin, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim
and cephalotin, respectively. Twenty two percent of the isolates exhibited resistance
to more than one antimicrobial agent. Multiple-drug resistance was mostly observed in
the human isolates and involved the antibiotics ampicillin and tetracycline. None of
the six virulence genes were identified among the isolates. Analysis of genetic
diversity by PFGE of 31 resistant isolates, revealed 29 distinct restriction
patterns. In conclusion, E. coli from humans and foods are resistant
to commonly used antibiotics and are highly genetically diverse. In this setting,
inappropriate use of antibiotics may be a cause of high resistance rate instead of
clonal spread.
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