The frequency of virulent genes and antimicrobial resistance patterns of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli isolated from stools of children presenting with diarrhea in a tertiary hospital in Abakaliki, Nigeria

Research Article

International Journal of One Health, 6(2): 147-152

https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2020.147-152

Ebuka Elijah David¹, Muhammad Arfat Yameen², Ikechuku Okorie Igwenyi³, Arthur Chinedu Okafor⁴, Uket Nta Obeten¹, Doris Olachi Obasi¹, Uchenna Regina Ezeilo¹, and Chidinma Nnenne David⁵

1. Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry, Alex-Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
2. Department of Pharmacy, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, Pakistan.
3. Department of Biochemistry, Ebonyi State University, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.
4. Department of Microbiology, Edo University, Iyamho, Edo State, Nigeria.
5. Department of Microbiology, Ebonyi State University, Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

Background and Aim: This study was aimed to determine the virulent genes and antibiotic resistance patterns among circulating diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) pathotypes in a tertiary care health center in east of Nigeria.

Materials and Methods: Diarrheal stool samples were obtained from 80 children under 5 years and E. coli was isolated and identified using standard biochemical and molecular methods. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect eight virulent genes of DEC. Disk diffusion method was used to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of DEC.

Results: DEC infection was observed in 54 (68%) children among which ial gene for enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC) (40% [n=22]) was commonly detected followed by eltA/eltB for enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) (30% [n=16]), pCVD for enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) (20% [n=11]), and eaeA/bfpA for typical enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) (10% [n=5]). The DEC isolates phenotypically exhibited resistance for ampicillin (AMP) (44 [81%]), followed by ciprofloxacin (CIP)/ levofloxacin (LEV) (28 [52%]), cefoxitin (FOX) (11 [20%]), and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (AMC) (6 [11%]). About 60% isolates of stable toxins-ETEC were resistant to AMC, CIP, and LEV while all the labile toxin-ETEC exhibited resistance to AMP. About 60% (n=6) resistance were seen in EAEC against ampicillin, AMC, FOX, CIP, and LEV. In EIEC, all the isolates (n=22) were resistant to AMP while 50% (n=11) were resistant to both CIP and LEV. All EPEC (n=5) were resistant to AMP, FOX, CIP, and LEV.

Conclusion: High frequency of virulent ial and eltA/eltB genes for EIEC and ETEC, respectively, suggests that they are the primary etiological agents of diarrhea in children among DEC pathotypes. Resistance of DEC to more than two classes of antibiotics indicate possible emergence of multidrug resistance. Keywords: antibiotic resistance, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, diarrheal stool, multidrug resistance, multiplex polymerase chain reaction, polymerase chain reaction.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, diarrheal stool, multidrug resistance, multiplex polymerase chain reaction, polymerase chain reaction.

How to cite this article: David EE, Yameen MA, Igwenyi IO, Okafor AC, Obeten UN, Obasi DO, Ezeilo UR, David CN (2020) The frequency of virulent genes and antimicrobial resistance patterns of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli isolated from stools of children presenting with diarrhea in a tertiary hospital in Abakaliki, Nigeria, Int. J. One Health, 6(2): 147-152.

Received: 21-06-2020 Accepted: 12-08-2020 Published online: 01-10-2020

Corresponding author: Ebuka Elijah David E-mail: david.ebuka@funai.edu.ng

DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2020.147-152

Copyright: David, 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.