Isolation and Characterization of E. coli from Food and Environmental samples and its Antibiotic Sensitivity Profile

Isolation and Characterization of E. coli from Food and Environmental samples and its Antibiotic Sensitivity Profile

Escherichia coli is not always confined to the intestine and their ability to survive for brief periods outside the body make them an ideal indicator organism to test environmental samples for fecal contamination. Meat plays an important role in human nutrition. It also acts as favorable medium for growth as well as transmission of various microbes. The type and level of bacterial contamination of meat have important consequences in relation to public health, shelf-life and the type of spoilage. Human beings consuming contaminated meat may often become infected with food-borne pathogens. The emergence of bacteria resistant to most of the commonly used Antibiotics/drugs is of considerable medical significance. Antibiogram of all the isolates was done with 8 different antibiotics. Different isolates show different responses to antibiotics. E. coli isolates were highly sensitive to antibiotic Kanamycin (80%), followed by Chloramphenicol (60%). The least sensitivity are showing against antibiotic Ciprofloxacin (40%), Nitrofurantoin (40%) and Streptomycin (20%). None of the E. coli isolates showed sensitivity to Carbenicillin followed by tetracycline (only 1 isolate shows partial/intermediate sensitivity).