Incidence and Profiles of Antibiotic Resistance and Virulence Markers of The Escherichia coli O157 Bacteria Recovered From Poultry Meat

Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157 issubstantial foodborne pathogen. The existing survey was addressed to assess the incidence, phenotypic resistance profile and incidence of virulence markers amongst the E. coli O157 isolates recovered from poultry meat. Five-hundred poultry meat samples were collected from Isfahan, Iran.Poultrymeatsamples were cultured and phenotypic antibiotic resistance pattern was deliberated using disk diffusion. PCR was applied to identify the incidence of virulence markers. Forty-four out of 500 (8.80%) poultry meat samples were contaminated with E. coli O157. Duck meat (16%) harbored the uppermost incidence of E. coli O157. Incidence of ehlyA, stx2, stx1and eaeA were 100%, 27.27%, 100% and 100%, respectively. E. coli O157 bacteria exhibited the maximum incidence of resistance against ampicillin (95.45%), tetracycline (88.63%), gentamycin (84.09%)and trimethoprim (38.63%) antibiotics. Incidence of resistance toward imipenem and chloramphenicol were 6.81% and 27.27%, respectively. Poultry meat samples, particularly duck, were considered as reservoir of virulence and antibiotic resistant O157 bacteria. Thoughtful antibiotic prescription and courtesies to the ideologies of food security can condense the hazard of resistant and virulent E. coli O157 in poultry meat.