Incidence of Antibiotic Resistant Coliforms in Poultry Meat in Menoufia Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

A total of 100 random samples of fresh chicken cuts (50 each of breast and thigh) were collected from different butcher’s shops at Menoufia Governorate. The samples were examined for the coliform count, isolation and identification of coliform strains, and antibiotic sensitivity. The obtained results indicated that the coliform count varied from 2.7x10² to 9.1x10⁴ CFU/g for chicken thigh and 2.3x10² to 6.3x10⁴ CFU/g for chicken breast respectively. Coliform isolates were identified as Escherichia coli, Citrobacter freundii, Citrobacter diversus, Enterobacter agglomerans, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterobacter hafniae, Serratia liquefaciens, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella ozaenae. Moreover, the serological examination of E. coli isolates revealed E. coli O86: K6, E. coli O55: K59, E. coli O125: K70, E. coli O128: K67, E. coli O26: K60 and E. coli O111: K58. Antimicrobial resistance among isolated coliform strains was detected by susceptibility to 8 antibiotics by disc diffusion method. Generally, E. coli isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, norfloxacin, streptomycin, and kanamycin. C. freundii isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, erythromycin, cefoxitin, and norfloxacin; E. agglomerans isolates were resistant to vancomycin, erythromycin, cefoxitin, streptomycin, and kanamycin. E. aerogenes isolates were resistant to vancomycin, cefoxitin, and kanamycin. E. cloacae and K. ozaenae strains were resistant to ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, and kanamycin. S. liquefaciens strains were resistant to ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, cefoxitin, norfloxacin, and kanamycin. K. pneumonia strain was sensitive to all tested antibiotics. These data suggest that antimicrobial-resistant coliform isolates are widely distributed in the meat and processing environment in Egypt, which can play a role in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance to other pathogenic and commensal bacteria.