Extended-spectrum ß-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli among humans, chickens and poultry environments in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Background Globally, chicken is known to be a reservoir for the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes to humans. In Nigeria, antimicrobial drugs are readily accessible for use in poultry production, either for preventive or therapeutic purposes. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC) are transmissible to humans because of their zoonotic potentials. People working very closely with chickens either on farms or markets are at greater risk. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and zoonotic transmission of ESBL-EC among poultry-workers, chickens, and poultry environments in Abuja, Nigeria. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study among workers, chickens and poultry environment in selected farms/chicken markets in Abuja. Stool, faecal, and environmental samples were collected from apparently healthy workers, chickens, and farm/market environments from December 2018 to April 2019. Data were collected electronically using an open data kit (ODK) installed on a Smartphone. Antimicrobial resistance was determined using broth micro-dilution methods against a panel of 14 antimicrobial agents. We carried out the phenotypic and genotypic characterization of the isolates. Data were analyzed by computing frequencies, proportions and spearman’s correlation (ρ). Results Of 429 samples, 26.8% ( n = 115) were positive for Escherichia coli (E. coli) . Of the 115 E. coli isolates, 32.2% ( n = 37) were confirmed ESBL producers by phenotypic characterization. Prevalence of ESBL-EC was highest among both poultry-workers (37.8%; n = 14) and chickens (37.8%; n = 14) followed by the environment (24.3%; n = 9). Both human and chicken isolates showed similar patterns of multidrug resistance to tested antimicrobials with a positive correlation (ρ = 0.91). Among ESBL producers, we observed the dissemination of bla CTX-M (10.8%; n = 4) genes. The coexistence of bla CTX-M-15 and bla TEM-1 genes was observed in 8.1% ( n = 3) of the isolates, out of which (66.7%; n = 2) were chicken isolates from the farm, while a single human isolate was from the chicken market. Conclusions ESBL-EC isolates were prevalent amongst apparently healthy individuals, chickens and the poultry farm/market environment in Abuja. It is important to educate healthcare workers that people in proximity with poultry are a high-risk group for faecal carriage of ESBL-EC, hence pose a higher risk to the general population for the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Risk Perceptions of Antibiotic Usage and Resistance: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Poultry Farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria

“…The excessive use (or misuse) of antibiotics in animal production has severe consequences for public health and the environment [ 6 , 9 ]. MDR organisms have been isolated in poultry, poultry environment, and in poultry workers and this poses serious public health threats especially in LMICs like Nigeria [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. These MDR bacteria can be transmitted to humans via the food chain, the environment, water bodies, or by close contact with these animals [ 6 , 24 , 25 ].…”

Genetic relatedness of multidrug resistant Escherichia coli isolated from humans, chickens and poultry environments

“…Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of E. coli Isolates All E. coli isolates from poultry workers, chickens, and poultry farm/ LBM were subjected to wholegenome sequencing as previously described [4]. Brie y, libraries for each E. coli isolates were prepared for WGS using a Nextera XT kit.…”

“…As previously described [4] in silico MLST-analyses of the E. coli isolates were determined using schemes demonstrated by Achtman which made use of allelic variation amongst seven housekeeping genes (adk, fumC, gyrB, icd, mdh, purA, and recA) to assign sequence types (STs) [27]. We used WGS sequence data to generate the E. coli MLST assignment for each isolate that perfectly matched the alleles in the MLST database.…”

“…The 108 assembled E. coli genomes of the present study have been deposited by the Thakur Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory, NC State University (GenomeTrakr Project) in the National Center for Biotechnology Information database under the Bio project ID number PRJNA293225. The remaining two isolates have accession obtained from the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) as previously reported [4].…”

Genetic relatedness of multidrug resistant Escherichia coli isolated from humans, chickens and poultry environments

“…Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of E. coli isolates All isolates were subjected to WGS as previously described [4]. Brie y, libraries for each E. coli isolates were prepared for WGS using a Nextera XT kit.…”