Impact of antimicrobial use on the antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli isolates from chickens and fish grown on integrated fish farms

• Main Authors: Ciceron, Marichu Florence A., del Prado, Jose Miguel, Echauz, Jeryl Jack, Cabrera, Esperanza C.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli infections in animals; Drug resistance in microorganisms; Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/5090
• Institution: De La Salle University

Escherichia coli was isolated from fish grown in a pond that had never been exposed to antibiotic-supplemented feeds (Control Group), and from fish on an integrated farm, fed for six weeks with manure of chickens that received tetracycline and chloramphenicol-supplemented feeds. E. coli was also isolated from these chickens after being fed such for 23 days. The antibiograms of the isolates were determined using the disk diffusion method. The prevalence of E. coli isolates from fish and chickens on the integrated farm that were resistant to tetracycline and chloramphenicol, to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and amoxicillin were significantly higher (p0.05), showing that exposure to antimicrobials was not required for the occurrence and maintenance of resistant strains. Data of the study suggest that prevalence of antimicrobial resistant strains is a result of the dynamic interplay of environmental and host-specific factors.