Abstract
BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase production in Enterobacterales isolated from retail sheep meat in Zagazig, Egypt. METHODS: One hundred random samples of sheep meat were collected from different retail butcher shops (n = 5) in the city of Zagazig, Egypt. Bacterial isolates were identified by MALDI-TOF MS and screened for antibiotic susceptibility by disk diffusion; further genotypic characterization of β-lactamase-encoding genes was performed with Real-Time PCR. E. coli strains were phylotyped with the Clermont triplex PCR method. RESULTS: Of the total of 101 bacterial isolates recovered from retail sheep meat samples, 93 were E. coli, six were Enterobacter cloacae and two were Proteus mirabilis. As many as 17% of these 100 samples showed ESBL phenotypes, all were E. coli. The bla(CTX-M) genes were detected in seven isolates (six were bla(CTX-M-15) and one was bla(CTX-M-14)), three isolates harboured bla(TEM) (all were bla(TEM-one)), and two carried genes of the bla(SHV) family (both were bla(SHV-12)). Eight E. coli isolates expressed ESBL phenotype but no bla(TEM), bla(SHV) or bla(CTX-M) genes were detected by PCR. ESBL- positive E. coli isolates were nearly equally distributed over the commensal groups A/B1 and the virulent group D. CONCLUSION: Nearly one in five sheep meat samples was contaminated with ESBL-E. coli. This further corroborates the potential role played by contaminated meat in the increasing resistance rates that have been reported worldwide.