Prevalence of Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci Species in Minced Buffalo Meat of Chitwan, Nepal

Abstract

Vancomycin resistant Enterococci is becoming one of the concerns of public health in recent times. VRE involve those strains of Enterococci that are resistant to the vancomycin which is considered as last drug of choice for the Gram positive bacterial infections. Studies show enterococci to be one of the major food borne diseases and medical consequences of its occurrence in humans. Thus, a crosssectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of VRE in buffalo meat in Chitwan. A total of 63 retail minced meat samples were collected from different meat shops. These samples were diluted and cultured and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility test. Of 63 samples, 16 (25.39%) samples were positive for the enterococcus species among which 3 (18.15%), were VRE indicating overall prevalence of VRE to be 4.76%. AST reveled that resistance among them was high for penicillin G and amikacin (75%) followed by tetracycline (43.75%), erythromycin (37.5%), vancomycin(18.75%) levofloxacin ( 12%) and methicillin. Eventhough methicillin revealed no resistance it showed intermediate sensitive to all the samples. Thus, it clarifies the presence of VRE in meat samples suggesting zoonotic disasters that can follow.

Characterisation of ESKAPE Pathogens with Special Reference to Multidrug Resistance and Biofilm Production in a Nepalese Hospital

“…VRE of 5-19% was found in minced meat showing the probability of poultry and food-borne transmission in Nepal. 52 Similarly, a study conducted in a hospital in Kathmandu found two VRE among nine isolates from patient's medical charts. This indicates an intense possibility of fomite-borne and foodborne transmission of MDR organisms which may lead to nosocomial infections in immuno-compromised patients.…”