Masters Thesis
The current study was carried out to determine the occurrence of multiple drug resistant,
resistance profiles and extended spectrum beta lactamase producing Escherichia coli in
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A total of 384 raw chicken meat and cloaca swabs were collected
between January and June 2020, a cross sectional study carried out in five Poultry slabs in
Dar es Salaam. Out of the 384 samples collected 212 (55.2%) revealed E. coli, of which
147(69.3%) were resistant to multiple drugs (MDR). The isolates showed relatively
resistant to tetracycline (91.9%), followed by sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (80.5%),
ampicillin (70.9%), and moderately resistant to ciprofloxacin (40.2%) and 25%
cefotaxime. However, they showed low resistance to gentamycin (10.8%) and 8.6%
imipenem (95% CI, P< 0.01). Ten (10/212) (4.7%) isolates confirmed as ESBL producers
and were all MDR. The MDR E coli strains were highly resistant to cefotaxime (100%),
ampicillin (90%) and moderately resistant to tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim
and ciprofloxacin (40%), low resistant to imipenem (10%) and susceptible to gentamycin.
Two isolates detected with cefotaxime munich (CTX-M) and eight isolates revealed qnrS
genes (Plasmid Mediated Quinolone Resistance) from ESBL producing E. coli isolates.
The increased levels of antimicrobial resistance revealed in this study pose a major public
health danger to human, animals and environment. This calls for an immediate intervention
from the public health, veterinary and environmental health authorities to curb the public
health threat of antimicrobial resistance. Improved animal husbandry biosecurity and
vaccinations in poultry production at the farm level should be implemented to reduce
incidence of infections. Equally, urgent action is needed in improving hygiene at poultry
slaughter slabs to minimize contamination rate during slaughter and processing of poultry
carcasses. It is important to increase public awareness advocacy on proper processing and
waste disposal. Veterinary and environmental authorities should continuously monitor
poultry slabs to enforce hygienic standards.
Southern Africa Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS)