Occurrence of extended spectrum β-lactamases, AmpC β-lactamase and sulfonamide resistance genes in ESBL-producing Escherichia coli recovered from faecal matter of lizards

The occurrence of β-lactamases and sulfonamide resistance genes in ESBL-producing E. coli from faecal matter of lizards was investigated. Isolation of ESBL-producing E. coli from lizard faecal matter was done on CHROMagar ESBL, and identification was done using molecular method. Disc diffusion method was used for the antibiotic susceptibility testing and detection of β-lactamases and sulfonamide resistance genes was done using PCR. Six ESBL-producing E. coli isolates were obtained. All the isolates obtained were multidrug resistant, showing a high level of resistance to the tested antibiotics. Five isolates carried at least one of the variants of blaCTX-M and sul2, one isolate carried sul1, while blaCMY was detected in three isolates, with two isolates carrying blaSHV and blaTEM concurrently. One isolate did not carry any of the genes. This study showed that faecal matter from lizards could be a reservoir of antibiotic resistant bacteria and resistance genes.