Prevalence and multidrug resistance pattern of Escherichia coli isolated from street food

Abstract

Street food is one of the most consumable food items in countries like Bangladesh, which could pose a public health concern because of their preparation and vending scheme. To address the public health issues, the present study targeted the isolation of Escherichia coli, a bacteria that poses a public health threat, from highly consumable street food items such as chatpoti and its various components, including chatpoti salad and chatpoti water, from five randomly selected markets: Foy’s Lake, Jhautala Bazar, G.E.C, Bahaddarhat Bazar, and Reazuddin Bazar of Chattogram City Corporation (CCC), Bangladesh. The collected samples were screened for E. coli using classical bacteriological examination. Chatpoti samples showed 30% individual colonies of E. coli, whereas other ingredients of chatpoti, including water and salad, showed a reasonably higher (50%) prevalence of E. coli. The collected samples were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility against 8 different selective antimicrobial agents for bacteriological examination. The E. coli isolates recovered from chatpoti were found to be 100% resistant to Ampicillin, Amoxicillin, and Tetracycline but were 100% sensitive to Doxycycline and Gentamicin, with a few showing intermediate sensitivity. Similarly, the E. coli isolated from chatpoti salad and chatpoti water showed a similar resistance and sensitivity pattern, with additional Cephalexin resistance observed in chatpoti salad. In summary, all isolates of E. coli showed evidence of multi-drug resistance, which is a global alarming issue because this level of antimicrobial resistance in those bacteria isolated from food samples may act as a medium for antimicrobial resistance transmission and could pose zoonotic significance. Therefore, it is important to monitor the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in other street food items, which is essential for the public health context.