Antibiotic susceptibility of Escherichia coli originated from raw chicken meat in Vinh Long province's retail markets

Abstract

One of the bacteria that is frequently found on uncooked poultry meat is Escherichia coli (E. coli), which commonly results in food poisoning in customers. Therefore, this work was conducted to assess the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of E. coli recovered from raw chicken meat in the retail markets of Vinh Long Province. The findings revealed that the E. coli concentration in raw chicken meat at retail markets exceeds the specified standards for fresh meat. A total of forty-nine E. coli strains were obtained from retail chicken samples. On the basis of morphological and biochemical characteristics, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis, the 3 bacterial strains EP4_12, ETB_38, and EBM_45 were determined to be E. coli. The results of antibiotic susceptibility testing demonstrated that the isolated E. coli strains were susceptible to ampicillin-sulbactam, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, and ceftazidime at rates of 84%, 47%, and 41%, respectively. In contrast, these bacteria were resistant to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, amoxicillin, doxycycline, levofloxacin, streptomycin, and tetracycline at percentages of 82%, 73%, 69%, 65%, 49%, 49%, and 55%, respectively. Notably, 94% of the bacterial isolates identified in this study were multiresistant to many antibiotics (multiresistant to 3 to 10 antibiotics), of which multiresistant to six antibiotics accounted for the highest percentage (20%). Moreover, the findings also revealed that E. coli isolates were frequently exposed to antibiotics with a multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index > 0.2. Consequently, it is important to manage the spread of antibiotic-resistant E. coli in fresh chicken retail markets to protect consumer health.