Antibiotic resistance status of Escherichia coli isolated from healthy pigs from some piggery farms in Ibadan, Nigeria

Antimicrobial resistance among Escherichia coli isolated from both healthy and infected farm animals is common, and such pathogens constitute important public health hazard because they can transfer drug resistant strains to other pathogens, both of animal and human origin. In this study, antibiotic profiles of 137 E. coli isolates from 256 apparently healthy pigs from 5 different piggeries in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria were evaluated. Isolates were grown aerobically at breakpoint concentrations for ciprofloxacin, cefepime, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, ampicillin, kanamycin, streptomycin and nalidixic acid (all obtained from SIGMA-ALDRICH, USA) according to standard methods specified by Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute.The highest resistance of 91% was observed for tetracycline, followed by 87.6% and 86.9% for kanamycin and nalidixic acid, respectively. The following percentage resistance of 72.3, 64.9, 43.1, 29.2 and 28.4% were observed for ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, cefepime and streptomycin, respectively. Of all the antibiotics included in the study, streptomycin was the most sensitive with 71.5% sensitivity followed closely by cefepime with 70.8% sensitivity. The research revealed a high level of antibiotic resistance among E. coli. The percentage of resistance observed for the antibiotics included in this study reflected the degree of their respective uses in pig production in the study area. This work further supports the need for prudent use of each of the antibiotics in animal production in Nigeria.Keywords: Healthy pigs, Antibiotics, Resistance