Background

Although raw meat and its products are commonly consumed in traditional Ethiopian diets, E. coli O157: H7 is rarely studied compared to other countries. Thus the present study has been designed to determine the prevalence and assess the antimicrobial susceptibility of E. coli O157: H7 isolated from beef, sheep meat and goat meat at one abattoir and in 48 selected raw meat retail shops in Addis Ababa.

Results

Out of 384 meat samples examined, 10.2% (39/384) were positive to E. coli O157:H7. Among these samples examined, beef was the most frequently contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 with an overall prevalence of 13.3% (17/128) followed by 9.4% (12/128) sheep meat and 7.8% (10/128) goat meat. With regard to meat source, the prevalence rates of E. coli O157:H7 at the abattoir and the selected retail shops were 5.7% (11/192) and 14.6% (28/192), respectively. Significant differences in prevalence was observed among sample sources (p < 0.05). The antimicrobial susceptibility investigation of 39 E. coli O157:H7 isolates using 10 commercially available antimicrobial discs revealed that the isolates were susceptible to nine antimicrobials from 69.3% to 100% except streptomycin which showed susceptibility of 48.7%. An overall resistance of 33.4% and 30.9% was recorded to streptomycin and amikacin, whereas 5.1%, 5.1%, 7.7%, 12.8% and 17.9% resistance rates were recorded against nalidixic acid, tetracycline, amoxacilin-clavulanic acid, cephalothin and ciprofloxacin, respectively. Multidrug resistance was observed among amikacin, amoxycillin-clavulanic acid, cephalothin, ciprofloxacin, streptomycin and tetracycline antimicrobials drugs.

Conclusions

The isolation of E. coli O157:H7 in raw meat and the existence of antimicrobial resistant isolates highlight the potential threat to public health. Hence implementation of E. coli O157:H7 prevention and control strategies from farm production to consumption of meat and meat products are crucial.

Graphical Abstract. .