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Virulent gene profile and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) from humans in Maiduguri, Borno State, North-Eastern Nigeria

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Abstract

Prevalence and distribution of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serogroups majorly linked with public health hazards in Maiduguri and the antimicrobial resistance pattern profile of the isolates were determined. Our results show that the prevalence of STEC isolated from human patients with gastroenteritis attending hospitals in Maiduguri was 1.2% of the 600 stool specimens examined. Two patients out of the seven STEC positive isolates had diarrhoea, and no significant statistical association (P < 0.05) was found between STEC positive samples and diarrheal disease. There was significant (P < 0.05) variation in the prevalence of STEC among the age groups. However, there were statistical differences (P < 0.05) between the detection rates of the four serogroups encountered. Five (71.4%) of the E. coli O157 strain showed resistance to at least one of the antimicrobials tested. The only STEC O157 isolate from humans showed resistance to gentamycin, ampicillin, streptomycin and cefotaxime. The results of the antimicrobial susceptibility study showed high resistance (71%) profile to the agents tested. However, all the seven isolates from humans were sensitive to ceftazidime, ceftriaxone and chloramphenicol. In conclusion, the study did not demonstrate significant influence of sex but it did document the presence of stx2 genes in 14.2% and stx1 in 85.7% of the isolates and other genes detected in this study were eae and ehlyA among the isolates. Therefore, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone and chloramphenicol may be drugs of choice for treating infections caused by STEC in Maiduguri.

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Acknowledgements

The authors specially appreciate the kind and expert technical help rendered by the staff of Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Borno State.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Health and Production Technology, Federal Polytechnic, PMB 35, Mubi, Adamawa State, Nigeria

    Musa Sakuma Adamu & Nafisatu Sa’ad Abubakar

  2. Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Iniobong Chukwuebuka Ikenna Ugochukwu

  3. Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria

    Sunday Idoko Idoko

  4. Department of Animal Health Technology, Adamawa College of Agriculture, PMB 2088, Ganye, Adamawa State, Nigeria

    Yakubu Adamu Kwabugge

  5. Department of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria

    James Ameh Ameh

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  1. Musa Sakuma Adamu
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  2. Iniobong Chukwuebuka Ikenna Ugochukwu
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  3. Sunday Idoko Idoko
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  4. Yakubu Adamu Kwabugge
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  5. Nafisatu Sa’ad Abubakar
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  6. James Ameh Ameh
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Contributions

J.A Ameh conceived the idea, M.S. Adamu and Y.A. Kwabugge carried out the research, C.I.I. Ugochukwu wrote the manuscript while S.I. Idoko, C.I.I. Ugochukwu and N.S. Abubakar did the statistical analysis. All authors read and approved the manuscript for submission.

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Correspondence to Iniobong Chukwuebuka Ikenna Ugochukwu.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical considerations

The ethics governing the use and conduct of experiments on humans were strictly observed, and the experimental protocol was approved by the University of Maiduguri Senate committee on Medical Research ethics. Proper permit and consent were obtained from the hospitals before the stools of the patients were used for this experiment.

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Adamu, M.S., Ugochukwu, I.C.I., Idoko, S.I. et al. Virulent gene profile and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) from humans in Maiduguri, Borno State, North-Eastern Nigeria. Comp Clin Pathol 27, 341–351 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-017-2597-x

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