Characterization of drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis isolated from lizards in Nigeria

Abstract

Lizards as well as some other reptiles have been known to carry pathogenic bacteria organisms as well as drug resistant pathogens. Despite the fact that they remain asymptomatic in many cases, they nevertheless play significant roles in the epidemiology of these pathogens through their dissemination to the public, sometimes through the food chain. Four multidrug resistant Gram negative pathogens including: 2 Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 2 Proteus mirabilis characterized in this study were isolated from lizards captured from some poultry houses in Ibadan Oyo State, Nigeria. The four isolates were identified based on conventional bacteriological procedure and confirmed by PCR based 16S RNA identification. They were subsequently, screened for their antibiotic susceptibilities to ten commonly used antibiotics including: ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, amikacin, cefepime, levofloxacin, sulfametoxazole, kanamycin, ampicillin, streptomycin and chloramphenicol, using the standard method by CLSI. Based on the isolates, antibiotics resistance patterns, they were further characterized by PCR screening for two plasmid borne genes namely: the Salmonella genomic island integron gene and the New Delhi metallo-•- lactamase gene (bla NDM-1 gene). Two out of the four isolates 2/4(50%) carried the plasmid borne Salmonella genomic Island integron gene and 4/4(100%) carried the plasmid borne blaNDM-1 gene. Considering the multidrug resistant nature of these bacteria isolates from lizards captured from poultry houses in Nigeria as well as the presence of plasmid borne genes, their presence thus constitute a public health threats in terms of dissemination of drug resistant pathogens to the public through the food chain. There is the need for public health enlightenment on the possible epidemiological roles of lizards in the dissemination of these pathogen and urgent need to put in place necessary preventive measures.