Multidrug-resistant and potentially virulent Gram-negative bacilli recovered from urine of slaughtered cattle in Makurdi, Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: Many reports of bacteriuria in domestic animals allude that animals may serve as hosts and means of spreading zoonotic pathogenic and multidrug-resistant bacteria via contamination of the environment with their urine. This cross-sectional study determined the bacterial load of urine from slaughtered cattle. It investigated the resistance to antimicrobials and pathogenicity potentials of the Gram-negative bacteria recovered from urine samples. Materials and Methods: Urine samples were obtained from 52 slaughtered cattle at the Wurukum Abattoir, Makurdi, Benue State, within a month. Standard microbiological procedures were used to process the samples for the isolation and identification of bacteria. Disc diffusion technique was used to determine the antibiogram of the isolates. Standard procedures also were deployed to examine the expression of virulence factors. Results: Bacteria were isolated from 20 of the 52 urine samples, with the positive samples yield¬ing total aerobic and coliform counts of 2.8 × 103 − 9.1 ×105 and 2.5 × 102 − 3.3 × 105 CFU/ml, respectively. Species of Gram-negative bacilli identified were Escherichia coli (n = 10), Tatumella ptyseous (n = 4), Acinetobacter baumannii (n = 2), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 1). The isolates were all resistant to at least three antimicrobial classes. All the isolates were resistant to the bac¬tericidal action of the serum, while 2 (11.8%) were hemolytic on blood agar. Conclusion: Adequate veterinary examination of slaughtered cattle before presenting for slaugh¬ter is imperative to reduce the contamination of the meat and environment with the urine of cattle with elevated levels of bacteriuria.