Sample collection and identificationA total of 180 lactating animals (166 cows and 14 buffalo) were sampled from seven farms. Before collection of clinical samples, a brief history of various animal

This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance pattern of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) in the feces of healthy poultry and retail chicken. All 146 E. coli recovered from 351 samples were screened by PCR for detection of ExPEC strains. Nineteen (13.01%) isolates were confirmed as ExPEC. Distribution of ExPEC strains was revealed as follows: broiler (25%), layer (15.87%), and raw chicken (3.12%). Turkey, duck, and water samples were negative for ExPEC strains. ExPEC strains belonged to phylogenetic groups B2 (52.63%), A (36.84%), and D (10.53%). Twenty-three (15.75%) isolates were ESBLpositive, including four ExPEC strains. ESBL-positive E. coli were isolated from all the samples except turkey. A high degree of resistance to commonly used antimicrobials, namely nalidixic acid (95.89%), tetracycline (95.89%), trimethoprim (89.04%), colistin (82.88%), and ciprofloxacin (54.11%), including β-lactam antimicrobials ampicillin (84.93%) and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (81.51%), was expressed by the isolates. Out of fifteen randomly selected ESBL-positive E. coli isolates, β-lactam genes, namely blaTEM, blaCTX-M, and blaOXA, were detected in three, six, and one, respectively. Poultry and raw chicken harbor multidrug-resistant, ESBL-type E. coli as well as ExPEC and these strains may be transmitted to humans via the food chain.

Pathogenic E. coli associated with bovine mastitis are least studied group of microbes in India. Thus an investigation was carried out to know the occurrence of bovine subclinical mastitis and E. coli at different dairy farms. E. coli strains isolated from clinical and environmental samples were screened for virulent genes namely, eae, bfpA, iapH, aggR, elt, est, stx1/stx2; phylogenetic groups and for ESBL production. Findings revealed high prevalence of subclinical mastitis (45%). E. coli strains were isolated from milk, udder, milking machine, floor swabs, etc. Out of 81 E. coli, 38 (46.91%) were ESBL producers. The virulent genes in single or in combination were detected in 55 strains and eae gene was predominant (43.20%). The stx1/stx2 were detected in 2.47% samples. E. coli isolates fall under phylogenetic groups B1 (58.18%), A (23.63%) and D (18.18%). Phylogenetic group B2 was not detected. Dairy cattle could act as a reservoir of ESBL type diarrheagenic E. coli.