Serotyping, antibiotic susceptibility, and virulence genes screening of Escherichia coli isolates obtained from diarrheic buffalo calves in Egyptian farms

Abstract

Aim:In Egypt as in many other countries, river water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is considered an important source of high-quality milk and meat supply. The objective of this study was to investigate serotypes, virulence genes, and antibiotic resistance determinants profiles of Escherichia coli isolated from buffalo at some places in Egypt; noticibly, this issue was not discussed in the country yet.Materials and Methods:A number of 58 rectal samples were collected from diarrheic buffalo calves in different regions in Egypt, and bacteriological investigated for E. coli existence. The E. coli isolates were biochemically, serologicaly identified, tested for antibiotic susceptibility, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyzed for the presence of antibiotic resistance determinants and virulence genes.Results:Overall 14 isolates typed as E. coli (24.1%); 6 were belonged to serogroup O78 (10.3%), followed by O125 (4 isolates, 6.9%), then O158 (3 isolates, 5.2%) and one isolate O8 (1.7%), among them, there were 5 E. coli isolates showed a picture of hemolysis (35.7%). The isolates exhibited a high resistance to β lactams over 60%, followed by sulfa (50%) and aminoglucoside (42.8%) group, in the same time the isolates were sensitive to quinolone, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline (100%), and cephalosporine groups (71.4%). A multiplex PCR was applied to the 14 E. coli isolates revealed that all were carrying at least one gene, as 10 carried blaTEM (71.4%), 8 Sul1 (57.1%), and 6 aadB (42.8%), and 9 isolates could be considered multidrug resistant (MDR) by an incidence of 64.3%. A PCR survey was stratified for the most important E. coli virulence genes, and showed the presence of Shiga toxins in 9 isolates carried either one or the two Stx genes (64.3%), 5 isolates carried hylA gene (35.7%), and eae in 2 isolates only (14.3%), all isolates carried at least one virulence gene except two (85.7%).Conclusion:The obtained data displayed that in Egypt, buffalo as well as other ruminants could be a potential source of MDR pathogenic E. coli variants which have a public health importance.

Prevalence, the antibiogram and the frequency of virulence genes of the most predominant bacterial pathogens incriminated in calf pneumonia

“…In the current study, the E. coli serotyping revealed the serogroups; O86, O119, and O158, which were also demonstrated in diarrheic calves from Egypt by a previous report (Hakim et al 2017). The serogroups; O18, O143, O1and O63 are specified in our survey and had a different variety than previous studies (Hakim et al 2017;Vu-Khac and Cornick 2008), and to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of these serogroups (O18, O143, O1, and O63) in E. coli strains identified from pneumonic calves in Egypt. Further, most E. coli strains isolated from healthy and pneumonic calves carry one to three virulence genes; fimH, eaeA and hly.…”

Genes Encoding the Virulence and the Antimicrobial Resistance in Enterotoxigenic and Shiga-toxigenic E. coli Isolated from Diarrheic Calves

“…A previous study from Egypt in diarrheic buffalo-calves farms reported that the most prevalent phenotypic resistance patterns were; ampicillin (71.4%) and amoxicillin (64.3%), as well as trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (50%) and gentamicin (42.8%) [ 26 ]. A previous study in Iran reported that E. coli strains retrieved from diarrheic calves showed maximum resistance to penicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, lincomycin and sulfamethoxazole [ 27 ]. The resistance pattern observed in our study and the previous other studies indicated that the emergence of multidrug-resistant species has become an increasing problem worldwide, due to the overuse of antimicrobial drugs in both animal and human medicine [ 28 , 29 ].…”

Understanding the Epidemiology of Multi-Drug Resistant Gram-Negative Bacilli in the Middle East Using a One Health Approach

“…According to El-Shazly et al (2017), many farmers in Egypt tend to use cefotaxime injections (a 3rd generation cephalosporin banned in poultry) to treat diseases in chicken (such as colibacillosis) after the failure of other antimicrobial treatments like fluoroquinolone and aminoglycosides. In addition, due to the low cost of antibiotics, many veterinarians still over-use antibiotics such as tetracycline, quinolone and beta lactams to treat and prevent zoonotic diseases and growth promotion (Braun et al, 2016; Hakim et al, 2017). Moreover, in pets, blaTEM along with blaSHV, blaPSE-1 and blaCTX-M were detected in E. coli strains isolated from dogs in in the same country (Aly et al, 2012).…”