Antibiotic resistance of Enterococcus Species Isolated fromRaw Foods of Animal Origin in South West Part of Slovakia

摘要

We determined the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of enterococci isolated from raw foods of animal origin. Allsamples were positive for enterococci. The lowest count of enterococci was found in pork (2.00 log CFU/cm~2), whilebryndza cheese contained the highest count (4.99 log CFU/g). Among the 349 Enterococcus isolates, 49% were E.faecalis, 29% E.faecium, and 13% Enterococcus spp. Tetracycline and gentamicin resistance was the most common. Wefound the highest tetracycline resistance levels (91%) in isolates from poultry samples. The isolates from the poultrysamples also displayed multidrug resistance to all antibiotics tested. The most common vancomycin-resistant speciesin poultry and milk was E.faecalis. In contrast, the pork samples contained vancomycin-resistant E.faecium isolates.It is interesting to note that vancomycin resistance in the pork and poultry samples was found only in combinationwith either four (28%) or all five (14%) of the tested antibiotics. Our results suggest that raw products of animal originare possible reservoirs of multi-antibiotic resistant enterococci in the food chain.