Prevalence and antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli isolated from abattoir and aquaculture environment in Ebonyi State, South East Nigeria.

Background: The present study was carried out to evaluate the distribution and antibiotics profile of Escherichia coli from abattoir and aquaculture.Methods: Abattoir and aquaculture effluents were randomly collected from various parts of Abakaliki in Ebonyi State. Bacterial detection was conducted using cultural and biochemical analysis. Susceptibility of the E. coli to antimicrobials was investigated using the Kirby- Bauer disk diffusion method.Results: The microbial load from abattoirs ranges from 0.26±0.11x107 to 4.08±0.11x107 cfu/ml and aquacultures 0.40±0.04x107 to 4.06±2.74x107 cfu/ml differ significantly (P<0.05). Out of the total 44 E. coli isolates from abattoir, drainage shows the highest E. coli isolates (40.9 %) and waste water least (22.7 %), while of the 18 E. coli isolates from aquaculture, 55.6 % were from concrete pond, while 44.4 % were from earthen pond. The E. coli isolates showed reasonable susceptibility to cefeprime (62.5 %), followed by imipenem (50. 0 %). However, all the E. coli isolates were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, cefixime, cefotaxime and tobramycin. E. coli MAR index range from 0.4 - 0.9.Conclusion: The high microbial load, antibiotic resistance and higher MAR index >2 is of public health concern and further demonstrates the need for adequate treatment and disposal of waste generated from abattoir and aquaculture.