Prevalence of β-lactamase genes and integrons among multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp recovered from food samples in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

The resistance of Gram-negative bacteria to β-lactam antibiotics occurs mainly by the production of β-lactamases. The aim of this work was to evaluate the presence of β-lactamase genes and integrons in multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates recovered from food. Susceptibility to antibiotics was determined using the agar diffusion method. Detection of β-lactam resistance genes and integrons was performed with the 53 confirmed MDR strains (42 E. coli and 11 Salmonella spp.) by PCR. High resistance rates of 92.5 %, 60.4 %, and 54.7 % against ampicillin, tetracycline, and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid were observed, respectively. Two β-lactamase genes blaTEM (37.7 %) and blaSHV (28.3) were detected among E. coli and Salmonella isolates. High rate of isolates (85 %) exhibited class 1 integrons was observed. These isolates can act as sources of antimicrobial resistance genes and promote the spread of these resistance determinants to other commensal and pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, preventive measures and clean environments are recommended to prevent food contamination with resistant microorganisms.