Genetic Characterization of Multiple Antibiotics Resistance Genes of Escherichia coli Strain from Cow Milk and Its Products Sold in Abuja, Nigeria

Background: Antibiotic resistance has remained a global concern. Food pathogens that carry resistance genes will cause public health threat irrespective of their pathogenicity, as this pool of resistance genes are disseminated via food chain. The antibiotic susceptibility of E. coli isolates to different antibiotics were investigated and resistance genes were genetically identified by multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The study aimed to determine the phenotypic antibiotic resistance pattern of the E. coli isolates and characterize the antibiotics resistance genes in the E. coli isolates from the Cow milk and milk products. Results: The study showed that the E. coli isolates were Multidrug resistant (MDR) to several antibiotics with resistance pattern of four to ten combinations of antibiotics and the antibiotics resistance occurred mostly in three classes of antibiotics, namely: β-lactams, Amphenicol and Tetracycline. The antibiotics resistance genes expressed in the multidrug resistant E. coli isolates were tetA 22(78.6%), dfrA1 9(32.1%), blaCITM and blaSHV 3(10.7%), tetB and blaTEM 1(3.6%), qnr 0(0%) and aac (3)-iv 0(0%). Conclusion: The study showed that the cow milk and its products sold on the streets of Abuja are contaminated with resistant E. coli that can pose health risk to the consumers. Monitoring and screening for resistant food pathogens in food especially of animal origin is vital to mitigate the prevalence of antibiotics resistance.