Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 May 14;20(5):e0323909.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0323909. eCollection 2025.

Epidemiology and molecular characterisation of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli isolated from chicken meat

Hamida Khanom  1   2 , Chandan Nath  1 , Philip P Mshelbwala  3 , Md Ridoan Pasha  1 , Ricardo Soares Magalhaes  4   5 , John I Alawneh  6 , Mohammad Mahmudul Hassan  1   4
Affiliations

Epidemiology and molecular characterisation of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli isolated from chicken meat

Hamida Khanom et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Ensuring the safety of poultry products is critical for public health, particularly due to the rising concern of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in foodborne pathogens. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns of Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolated from broiler chicken meat samples collected from live bird markets (LBMs) and supermarkets (SMs) in the Chattogram Metropolitan Area (CMA), Bangladesh. A total of 430 samples, comprising 215 liver and 215 muscle samples, were collected between October 2020 and February 2021 from nine LBMs and five SMs. Samples were processed and cultured, and E. coli was isolated and identified through phenotypic and molecular techniques, including PCR targeting the uidA and uspA genes. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was conducted using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion techniques with seven antibiotics from six distinct antimicrobial classes. The study found an overall prevalence of 56.28% (95% CI: 51.56-60.89) for E. coli. The prevalence in LBMs (58.33%) was higher than in SMs (54.80%), with liver samples showing a slightly higher rate of contamination (63.33% in LBMs, 55.20% in SMs) compared to muscle samples. AMR profiling revealed high resistance rates to sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (88.84%), tetracycline (86.78%), and ampicillin (82.23%). Conversely, cephalexin (63.64%) and gentamicin (57.02%) had the highest susceptibility rates. A significant proportion (84.71%) of isolates were multidrug-resistant (MDR), with some isolates resistant to up to six classes of antimicrobial. The multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index ranged from 0.14 to 1.00, indicating substantial antimicrobial exposure. PCR analysis confirmed the presence of the blaTEM gene in all ampicillin-resistant isolates, while 75.35% of sulfamethoxazole-resistant isolates carried the sul2 gene. Correlation analysis revealed a strong association between phenotypic resistance to ampicillin and the presence of the blaTEM gene (r = 1), along with a moderate correlation between sul2 and resistance to sulfamethoxazole (r = 0.5). These findings highlight the widespread presence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) E. coli in broiler meat, posing a significant public health concern.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Map depicts locations of selected LBMs and SMs of Chattogram Metropolitan Area.
Fig 2
Fig 2. AMR patterns of E. coli isolated from broiler chicken muscle and liver samples.
a) AMR patterns, b) MDR patterns and c) correlation coefficient of specific antimicrobials and resistance genes. Here, TE = tetracycline, DO = doxycycline CN = gentamicin, CIP = ciprofloxacin, SXT = sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, CL = cephalexin and AMP = ampicillin.
Fig 3
Fig 3. The heatmap illustrates the AMR profiles of liver and muscle samples, along with resistance genes,
a) LBMs, b) SMs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Levine MM. Escherichia coli that cause diarrhea: enterotoxigenic, enteropathogenic, enteroinvasive, enterohemorrhagic, and enteroadherent. J Infect Dis. 1987;155(3):377–89. doi: 10.1093/infdis/155.3.377 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akond MA, Alam S, Hassan SMR, Shirin M. Antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli isolated from poultry and poultry environment of bangladesh. Internet J Food Saf. 2009;11:19–23.
    1. Laury A, Echeverry A, Brashears M. Fate of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in meat. In: Safety of Meat and Processed Meat. 2009. p. 31–53.
    1. Mølbak K. Spread of resistant bacteria and resistance genes from animals to humans—the public health consequences. J Vet Med B. 2004;51(8-9):364–69. - PubMed
    1. Salehi TZ, Bonab SF. Antibiotics susceptibility pattern of Escherichia coli strains isolated from chickens with colisepticemia in tabriz province, iran. Int J Poult Sci. 2006;5:677–84.

MeSH terms

Substances