Prevalence of multidrug resistant (MDR) novel Enterococcus faecium strain VDR03 in broiler chicken meat samples collected from Dibrugarh Town, Assam (India)

Abstract

Prevalence of multidrug resistant bacteria (MDR) in hospital wastes and food have scaled up the level of difficulty in treatment of any disease. Broiler chicken meat is consumed by a large section of population making it an essential diet for the non-vegetarians. The current study was made to screen and characterize MDR strains of Enterococcus, methicillin and vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA and VRSA) in broiler chicken meat collected from various meat shops located in Dibrugarh town of the state Assam, India. A total of 119 S. aureus were screened from 20 meat samples collected from 20 different meat shops. Out of those, 34 (28.6%) isolates were confirmed to be MRSA and VRSA each and 16 (13.4%) strains of S. aureus showed resistance against both methicillin and vancomycin. They were confirmed by biochemical tests and staining techniques. The isolate showed resistance against maximum number of antibiotics (viz., polymixin B, metronidazole, novobiocin, tetracycline, rifampicin, erythromycin, methicillin and vancomycin) was identified as Enterococcus faecium strain VDR03 on the basis of 16S rDNA sequencing. Plasmids that are responsible for antibiotic resistance were found to be of 2 and 13 kbp size. The GC content of the genomic DNA was found to be 30.74%. The thermal point of the isolate was determined to be 73°C and current study showed the presence of MDR strains in broiler chicken meat but the thermal death point of the most potent isolate suggests that cooking of meat for a longer duration of time may prevent MDR infections.