Abstract

Antibiotics are the most successful form of therapeutics developed for the treatment of disease caused by bacteria. The study aimed to assess the prevalence of Escherichia coli and multidrug resistant pattern from environmental sources in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Forty samples were collected from environmental sources including poultry litter, soil, waste water and cloaca. All samples were inoculated onto prepared Eosin Methylene blue plates and incubated for 24 h at 37°C. Colonies were sub cultured onto sterile nutrient agar plates. Pure isolates were identified using standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility was carried out on identified E. coli. The study showed that from the samples poultry had 15 (37.5%) E. coli, soil 11 (27.5%), waste water 9 (22.5%) and cloaca 5 (12.5%) E. coli. However, the highest number of E-coli was observed in poultry source and least in cloaca.  The results also revealed that the number of E. coli from poultry were 7 (46.7%), 5 (33.3%), 2 (13.3%) and 1 (6.7%), soil 6 (54.5%), 1 (9.1%), 3 (27.3%) and 1 (9.1%), waste water 2 (22.2%), 2 (22.2%), 2 (22.2%), 2 (22.2%) and 1 (11.1%) and cloaca 2 (40.0%) and 3 (60.0%), respectively. E.-coli were susceptible and resistant to classes of antibiotic including Ceftazidime, Cefuroxime, Gentamicin, Cefxime, Ofloxacin, Augmentin, Nitrofurantoin and Ciprofloxacin. Hence, the study s amongst others that to prevent further emergence and spread of resistant strains in E-coli, rational use of antibiotics and regular monitoring of antimicrobial resistance patterns are essential and mandatory.

Key words: Antibiogram, Escherichia coli, environment, multidrug, resistance.