Prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli in seafood from the retail fishery outlets of Veraval, Gujarat, India

Abstract

Profound and unregulated utilization of beta-lactam antibiotics for the treatment of various infections has lead to various bacteria being resistant against these antibiotics. E. coli is well known to produce extended, spectrum β- lactamase (ESBL) type of β- lactamase, which has the ability to hydrolyse the entire group of β- lactam antibiotics. Currently, reports on the occurrence of ESBL producing E. coli in seafood is meagre. Therefore, the objective of this study was to monitor the prevalence of multiple drug resistant (MDR) and ESBL producing E. coli in seafood in Veraval region of Gujarat.Identification and isolation of E. coli was carried out using ISO, 9308-1 method with minor modification. A 0.5 ml of serially diluted fish sample was spread on Tergitol-7 media (Oxoid, CM0793) and incubated at 35 C for 24 hrs. Typical flat, dry and yellow colonies with or without red tinge were further streaked on EMB plates and then subjected to IMViC and 20E BioMerieux identification kit. All the confirmed E. coli isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was determined. A total of 28 number of E. coli (approx 12%) isolates were identified from 238 fish samples. All these isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing and a higher rate of resistance was found with ampicillin (39.29%), trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxizole (32.14%), ciprofloxacin (28.57%) cefepime (17.86%) and cefuroxime (17.86%). All these isolates were sensitive to carbapenems and beta-lactam, beta-lactam inhibitors and aminoglucosides. Out of total 28, E. coli isolated (15.71%) eleven isolates were found to be multidrug resistant and four (14.29%) isolates were ESBL producers.This study confirms the presence of hazardous MDR and ESBL producing E. coli in fish and fishery products in Veraval,Gujarat.