Risk Analysis and Antibiogram Spectrum of Escherichia coli O157: H7 Serotype from Children Stool and Raw Bovine Meat in Households Across Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

This cross sectional study is aimed at evaluating the risk factors and antibiogram profiles of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in children stool and bovine meat obtained from selected households across Cross River State, Southern Nigeria. A total of 360 samples of fresh household bovine meat and 366 children diarrheal and nondiarrheal stool samples each were collected and examined for E. coli O157: H7 using standard culture and serological methods. Confirmed E. coli O157: H7 isolates were evaluated for antimicrobial susceptibility using the Agar disc diffusion method. The total positive samples for E. coli O157: H7 in household meat was 76/360 (21.11%,) while the diarrheaic and nondiarrheaic stool samples had 70/366 (19.13%) and 5/366 (1.37%) positive samples respectively. A significant difference was observed in the prevalence values among the bovine meat samples from various households and between the diarrheaic and nondiarrheaic samples at p<0.05. Risk factors such as Age range with highest prevalence value at 1-2yrs (26.83%); Occupation of parent/guardian with highest value from farming (25.67%) and Main domestic water source with highest value from surface water (28.21%) were observed to significantly affect the prevalence of the pathogen in children diarrheaic stool (p<0.05). All 70 diarrheaic isolates were resistant to one or multiple antibiotics with highest values obtained from tetracycline (88.6%) and cotrimoxazole (77.1%). This study revealed that bovine meat and some human and environmental factors play a vital role in the establishment of E. coli O157:H7 infection in children in the study communities with diarrheal stool being the main vehicle for secondary infections in humans. Cattle therefore serve as a major source of transmission of multi drug resistant E. coli O157:H7 to humans hence the need for continuous surveillance of this pathogen and implementation of legislation against indiscriminate use of antibiotics in diary farms.