Phenotypic and Genotypic Screening of Colistin Resistance Associated with Emerging Pathogenic Escherichia coli Isolated from Poultry

• Published in: Veterinary sciences Vol. 9; no. 6; p. 282
• Main Authors: Badr, Heba, Samir, Abdelhafez, El-Tokhi, Essam Ismail, Shahein, Momtaz A., Rady, Flourage M., Hakim, Ashraf S., Fouad, Ehab Ali, El-Sady, Engy Farahat, Ali, Samah F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 09-06-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Amino acids; Ampicillin; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial resistance; APEC; Bacteria; Clindamycin; Colistin; colistin resistance; Drug resistance; E coli; Egypt; Escherichia coli; Farms; Gram-negative bacteria; Laboratories; mcr-1; Minimum inhibitory concentration; Multidrug resistance; Pathogens; Peptides; Poultry; Public health; Serotypes; Streptomycin; United Kingdom > UK; Japan; Germany; Egypt
• DOI: 10.3390/vetsci9060282
• EISSN: 2306-7381

Chickens continue to be an important reservoir of zoonotic multidrug-resistant illnesses. Antimicrobial resistance correlated with colistin has emerged as a critical concern worldwide in the veterinary field and the public health sector. The current study investigated the prevalence of multidrug-resistant avian pathogenic Escherichia coli among chicken farms in three Egyptian governorates, focusing on colistin resistance assessment. A total of 56 Escherichia coli isolates were recovered out of 120 pooled samples obtained from diseased chicken broilers (46.7%). The E. coli isolates were serotyped to nine different serotypes; the highest incidence was for O125 (n = 18). The E. coli isolates demonstrated multidrug-resistant patterns against 10 antibiotics, especially clindamycin, tetracycline, streptomycin and ampicillin, by 100, 100, 96.4 and 92.9%, respectively. On the other hand, colistin resistance was 41.1% using AST. All E. coli isolates displayed positive colistin resistance growth on chromogenic medium, but only 25% represented this positivity via MIC estimation and Sensititre kit. PCR results revealed that all isolates harbored mcr-1, but no isolates harbored the other 2–5 mcr genes. In conclusion, the study demonstrated the emergence of multidrug-resistant, especially colistin-resistant, E. coli among chicken broiler flocks, and mcr-1 is the master gene of the colistin resistance feature.