Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance of <i>Escherichia coli</i> Isolated from Raw Cow’s Milk

Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance of <i>Escherichia coli</i> Isolated from Raw Cow’s Milk

<i>Escherichia coli (E. coli)</i> is one of the most common pathogens in both humans and livestock. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of <i>E. coli</i> isolated from raw cow milk and evaluate its antimicrobial resistance rates. A total of 1696 milk samples were c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Roxana Ionela Drugea, Mădălina Iulia Siteavu, Elena Pitoiu, Cristina Delcaru, Ecaterina Monica Sârbu, Carmen Postolache, Stelian Bărăităreanu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Microorganisms
Subjects:
drug resistance
dairy farms
bovine mastitis
Romania
public health
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/1/209
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Summary:<i>Escherichia coli (E. coli)</i> is one of the most common pathogens in both humans and livestock. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of <i>E. coli</i> isolated from raw cow milk and evaluate its antimicrobial resistance rates. A total of 1696 milk samples were collected from Romanian dairy farms from 2018 to 2022. <i>E. coli</i> was isolated on various selective agar media, such as Cled agar and Columbia Agar with 5% Sheep Blood. The identification of <i>E. coli</i> was performed by MALDI-TOF MS. <i>E. coli</i> isolates were tested for their susceptibility against 18 commonly used antibiotics in a disk diffusion method. The overall prevalence of <i>E. coli</i> was 22.45% of all isolated pathogens. Antibiogram analysis revealed that 27.51% of <i>E. coli</i> isolates from milk were multidrug-resistant. Resistance was highest for penicillin–novobiocin (87.78%), followed by streptomycin (53.7%). Resistance to six drugs (amoxicillin, streptomycin, kanamycin–cephalexin, marbofloxacin, ampicillin) showed a significant increasing trend over time, while for two drugs (penicillin G-framycetin, doxycycline), a significant decrease was observed. Our results suggest that milk can be a reservoir of bacteria with the potential for infection in humans via the food chain. Furthermore, there is a need for surveillance and monitoring to control the increase in resistance to currently used antimicrobials in dairy farms because the occurrence of multidrug-resistant <i>E. coli</i> isolated from milk poses a health hazard to consumers.
ISSN:2076-2607

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