Occurrence of ceftriaxone-resistant commensal bacteria on a dairy farm and a poultry farm

Abstract

Approximately 40 samples of animal feces, drinking water, feed, bedding, pine wood shavings, compost, and manure slurry were collected from two animal research farms (one dairy and one poultry) and analyzed for ceftriaxone-resistant bacteria. Our study revealed that the total percentage of aerobic bacteria with reduced susceptibility to ceftriaxone (minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) ≥ 16 µg/mL) ranged from 0.9% to 10.8% in dairy feces and from 0.05% to 3.93% in chicken feces. The percentages of ceftriaxone-resistant bacteria (MIC ≥ 64 µg/mL) were in the range of 0.01%–2.3% in dairy feces and 0.01%–0.79% in chicken feces. Environmental samples contained a wide range of ceftriaxone-resistant bacterial populations. Among those environmental samples, fresh pine wood shavings used as chicken bedding contained the highest percentages (41.5%) of ceftriaxone-resistant bacteria, as determined by a plating method. A total of 105 ceftriaxone-resistant (MIC ≥ 128 µg/mL) bacterial isolates were isolated from the above samples and tested for resistance to nine antibiotics: ampicillin, ceftriaxone, streptomycin, kanamycin, gentamicin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, and nalidixic acid. The most prevalent resistance pattern (34.3%) among isolates included resistance to all nine antibiotics. Results from this study suggest that ceftriaxone-resistant bacteria exist in farm environments, and the ceftriaxone resistance was frequently associated with resistance to multiple antibiotics. Environmental sources such as pine wood shavings used as bedding can be a potential reservoir for transmitting the multidrug-resistant bacteria.Key words: ceftriaxone, commensal bacteria, multiple antibiotic resistance.