NAWAL NOURELDAIM ABUELHASSAN, SAHILAH ABDUL MUTALIB, NURSHEILA MUSTAFA MUIN, EL MUBARAK MUSA TIBIN, FEBRI DONI AND WAN MOHTAR WAN YUSOFF
Abstract
This present was carried out to isolate and investigate antibiotic resistance pattern among Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains isolated from imported frozen meat marketed in super markets in Klang valley, Malaysia. A total of 74 samples were purchased from various supermarkets and examined for presence E. coli 0157:H7 using Fluorocult medium which specific for E. coli O157:H7 and confirmed using API 20E kit. Confirmed isolates were evaluated for antibiotic resistance against 9 antibiotics. Results revealed that 35 out of 126 of the total isolates were confirmed E.coli O157:H7 with 22 (63%) from beef (10 from country A and 12 from country B), 13 isolates were from buffalo (8 from country A and 5 from country B). Results of antibiotic resistance showed that all isolates were found to be resistant to at least 2 antibiotics and were all resistant to Penicillin G. Resistance was more prevailing against Bacitracin (97.14%), Novobiocin (85.71%), Streptomycin (28.57%), Ampicillin (25.71%), Cephalothin (22.86%), Carbenicillin (17.14%), Sulphamethoxazole (14.29%) and Kanamycin (8.57%). Clustering analysis of the isolated bacteria from the samples using resistance to Cephalothin as base line revealed two clusters with cluster I having 4 sub clusters and cluster II having only 1 cluster. The high prevalence of multidrug resistance among E. coli O157:H7 pose serious danger to consumers health. Further study on genetic bases of the antibiotic resistance is hence suggested.