Vol. 12, Special Issue 10 (2023)

Author(s):
Aarathi S Nair, Binu K Mani, Priya PM, Ambily R, Shibu Simon and Surya Sankar

Abstract:
Antibiotic resistance is a rising global threat. The inadvertent use of antibiotics resulted in the emergence of bacteria resistant to almost all classes of antibiotics. Objectives of the current study included isolation and identification of aerobic bacteria from the vaginal swabs of subfertile bitches and identification of the resistance exhibited by these isolates against β-lactam class of antibiotics, both by genotypic and phenotypic methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the isolates were studied by antibiotic disc diffusion method and detection of antibiotic resistance genes (blaZ, bla_TEM-1 and bla_CTX-M) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Bacteria isolated from vagina included E. coli (7), Streptococcus (5), Klebsiella spp. (4), Staphylococcus (3), Enterococcus (2) Enterobacter spp. (1) and Pasteurella spp. (1). The isolates manifested high degree of resistance against the seven β-lactam antibiotics employed in the study. The PCR detected the presence of blaZ in five Gram positive isolates and bla_CTX-M in five Gram negative isolates. However, bla_TEM-1 was present in all the Gram negative bacteria isolated. Majority of the bacteria isolated were Gram negative (56.5 per cent). All the bacteria isolated were resistant to atleast two out of the seven β-lactam antibiotics under study. Co-carriage of multiple resistant genes by the same bacteria increased their resistance towards multiple antibiotics. The prevalence of such bacteria in the environment is a great public health concern.