Investigating antibiotic resistance in enterococci in Gabonese livestock

Vet World Vol.15 March-2022 Article-23

Research Article

Veterinary World, 15(3): 714-721

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2022.714-721

Otsaghe Ekore Desire^1,2, Boundenga Larson^1,3, Onanga Richard¹, Mabika Mabika Rolande¹, and Kumulungui Brice Serge¹

1. Centre International de Recherche Médicales de Franceville, BP: 769, Franceville, Gabon.
2. Ecole Doctorale Régional d'Afrique Central, BP: 876, Franceville, Gabon.
3. Department of Anthropology, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.

Background and Aim: The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a major problem worldwide. Antibiotics are often used to prevent or treat infections in livestock. This study aimed to investigate antibiotic resistance in enterococci in Gabonese livestock.

Materials and Methods: We collected 174 animal samples (46 laying hens, 24 swine, 62 cattle, and 42 sheep) from farms in four provinces of Gabon. Bacterial strains belonging to the genus Enterococcus were obtained using selective media and polymerase chain reaction targeting the tuf gene. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the disk diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar.

Results: Enterococci were present in 160 of the samples (97%), distributed as follows: laying hens (100%, 41/41), swine (100%, 22/22), small ruminants (88%, 37/42), and cattle (100%, 60/60). Resistance to cephalothin/cephalexin, streptomycin, and rifampicin (RIF) was high, and resistance to vancomycin (VAN), erythromycin, and tetracycline was moderate. A high diversity of resistance was found in Haut-Ogooué and Estuaire provinces. Laying hens and swine showed moderate levels of resistance to ciprofloxacin and penicillin, while sheep and cattle had high levels of resistance to RIF. All species showed a high level of resistance to VAN. We found various patterns of multiple resistances in the isolates, and the multiple resistance indexes ranged from 0.2 to 0.8.

Conclusion: This study shows that livestock in Gabon can be considered potential reservoirs of resistance. Keywords: antimicrobial, cattle, enterococci, Gabon, laying hens, sheep, swine.

Keywords: antimicrobial, cattle, enterococci, Gabon, laying hens, sheep, swine.

How to cite this article: Desire OE, Larson B, Richard O, Rolande MM, Serge KB (2022) Investigating antibiotic resistance in enterococci in Gabonese livestock, Veterinary World, 15(3): 714-721.

Received: 06-09-2021 Accepted: 10-02-2022 Published online: 25-03-2022

Corresponding author: Otsaghe Ekore Desire E-mail: otsaghe16@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2022.714-721

Copyright: Desire, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.