Study of rapport of the milk pollution by multidrug-resistant bacteria (‘superbugs’), cows morbidity and calves lethality in holdings of eastern Ukraine

Abstract

Pasteurella multocida (46.0%), Neisseria spp. (44.0%), Aspergillus fumigatus (10.0%) were isolated in stable consortia form from milk samples (n = 60) from cows in 6 herds (n = 627 heads) with clinical signs of immunodeficiency status. The bacteria of these consortia is strong resistant to lots of antibiotics from synthetic penicillin group (ampiox, amoxiclav, ampicillinum), cephalosporins (cefalexin, cefixime), and macrolides (macropene, tylosin). The etiological structure of bacterial infections in cattle and their calves (n = 57) in mentioned farm holdings of eastern Ukraine was determined (6 farms in 3 regions). In the majority of these livestock, respiratory syndrome has been recorded for a long time in 56.0% of calves from 20 days to 5 months old. The signs of diarrhea were revealed in 12.0% of lactating and dry cows of these livestock, 18.0% of these animals showed the clinical manifestation of mastitis and 9.0% of them had the diarrhea syndrome. Pasteurella multocida (48.0%), Mycoplasma bovis (32.0%), Neisseria spp. (12.0%), Clostridium perfringens (8.0%) were identified using microbiological methods from nasal and rectal swabs from calves of different age groups, from cows with clinical signs of mastitis were isolated Mycoplasma bovis (50.0%), Pasteurella multocida (34.0%), Neisseria spp. (16.0%). Pasteurella multocida, Neisseria spp. and Clostridium perfringens isolates showed strong resistance to ampiox, amoxiclav, ampicillinum, cefalexin, cefixime, macropene, and tylosin. It was concluded that mentioned multidrug-resistant animal infectious agents in human food chain could be a sources of antibiotic resistance genes for human pathogens.