Abstract

The beta-lactams is a large group of antibiotics that contain more than half of the drugs used in clinical medicine for the treatment of bacterial infections in humans, but the antimicrobial efficacy of this potent class of drugs is threatened by the production of betalactamases by pathogenic bacteria. Extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBLs) are betalactamase enzymes that have the ability to hydrolyze and cause resistance to the cephalosporins and monobactams with the exception of carbapenems, clavulanic acid and cephamycins. A total of 300 environmental samples comprising of 150 feacal swab samples and 150 intestinal swab samples recovered from the carcass of animals slaughtered in different abattoirs in Abakaliki metropolis were phenotypically investigated for ESBL production by the double disk synergy test (DDST) method using cephalosporin/clavulanic acid combination disk as recommended by NCCLS. Seventy-one (71) isolates of Escherichia coli were recovered from the samples; and these showed varying rates of susceptibility and resistance to some available antibiotics. The E. coli isolates were highly resistant to cefotaxime, ceftazidime, sulphamethoxazole-trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin. However, they were highly susceptible to imipenem and cefoxitin. Out of the 71 E. coli isolates, only 32 isolates of E. coli (45.1 %) were confirmed to produce ESBLs phenotypically by the DDST method used in this study. Our study presumptively shows that ESBLproducing E. coli is frequent in animal dung. Further sequencing studies and PCR analysis is required to characterize the ESBL phenotypes found in this environment. The detection of ESBL from both clinical and environmental samples is crucial in order to forestall any disease outbreak due to them.

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