Phenotypic and genetic characteristics of multidrug-resistant E. coli from pork meat

The widespread emergence of antimicrobial-resistant E. coli is now being seen in humans and animals, and there is an increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) E. coli on a global. In this study, 31 MDR E. coli isolates recovered from pork meat at retail markets were analyzed to determine the phenotypic and genetic characteristics. The resistance to ampicillin (30 isolates, 96.8%) and tetracycline (28 isolates, 90.3%) were the most frequent among the MDR E. coli isolates. Thirty (96.8%) of MDE E. coli isolates harbored the ß-lactamase–encoding gene blaTEM. Twenty-six (83.9%) isolates harbored a class 1 integron, and 30 (96.8%) isolates carried from 2 to 6 resistance genes. Frep (45.2%) and FIB (22.6%) replicons were most common on the replicon typing. This study suggests that monitoring of the antimicrobial resistance of the pathogens found in pork meat should be continued in the future due to concerns about food safety issues.