Abstract
This study was undertaken to investigate drug resistance in Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains isolated from bamboo rats in Zhejiang province of China. One hundred and fifty-four E. coli strains were isolated from dead bamboo rats. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the representative genes encoding resistance to commonly used β-lactam antibiotics. Highest resistance was observed for cefradine (24.03%), followed by penicillin (20.78%) and ceftazidime (20.13%). The isolation rates of β-lactam resistance genes were 53.25, 48.70, 15.58 and 14.29% for bla TEM, bla CTX-M, bla OXA and bla SHV, respectively, while 62 (40.26%) E. coli isolates harbored multiple β-lactam resistance genes. These results also suggested that long term use of these antibiotics leads to antibimicrobial resistance. We believe that this study will provide a guideline for veterinarians and a research basis for examining resistance-encoding genes in other food animals like bamboo rats.