Antimicrobial resistance of Escherichia coli isolated from packaged Mukene in local markets

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an emerging global health problem. Fish as an aquatic organism plays an important role in the emergence and spread of AMR strains. Escherichia coli has been listed among the important bacteria involved in the spread and emergence of antimicrobial factors. This research was conducted on Escherichia coli obtained from packaged Mukene (Rastrineobola argentea) in local markets around Makerere University. The main aim of the research was to establish the resistance profile of Escherichia coli isolated from packaged Mukene to commonly used antibiotics in humans. A total of six antibiotics were used for the susceptibility tests following the Bauer-Kirby disc diffusion method as stipulated by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. These included; erythromycin, tetracyclin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, cefuroxime and nalidixic acid. The resistance profile was categorized as; resistant, intermediate and susceptible. The results indicated that the highest resistance was against cefuroxime (90.6%) and erythromycin (84.4%) followed by trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (62.5%), tetracyclin (59.4%) and nalidixic acid (56.2%). The least resistance was observed in chloramphenicol (15.6%). The highest intermediate resistance was observed in trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (27.5%) followed by erythromycin (12.5%), chloramphenicol (12.5%), tetracyclin (9.4%), cefuroxime (9.4%) and nalidixic acid (3.1%). The highest susceptibility was observed in chloramphenicol (71.9%) and nalidixic acid (40.6%) followed by tetracyclin (31.2%) and erythromycin (3.1%). There was no susceptibility observed with Cefuroxime and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. In conclusion, the deep fried packaged Mukene sold in local markets was found to be contaminated with antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli. Furthermore, the Escherichia coli isolated was found to be multi-drug resistant to different families of commonly used antibiotics.