Detection of qnr, aac(6′)-Ib-cr and qepA genes in Escherichia coli isolated from cooked meat products in Henan, China

Antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli has increased in recent years in China. Antimicrobial resistant isolates and resistance genes of E. coli can be transferred to humans through the food chain and this presents a public health risk. However, few studies have investigated the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance-encoding genes in E. coli isolated from food samples in China. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of quinolone resistance genes (QRGs) and extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) in E. coli isolated from cooked meat products in Henan, China. A total of 75 E. coli isolates (12.1%) were detected from 620 samples. High rates of resistance to the following drugs were observed: tetracycline (56.0%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (41.3%), streptomycin (29.3%), ampicillin (26.7%) and nalidixic acid (14.7%). Of the 75 isolates, QRGs were present in 10 isolates (13.3%), with qnr and aac(6′)-Ib-cr detected alone or in combination in five (6.7%) and eight isolates (10.7%). The qnr genes detected in this study included qnrS (n = 3) and qnrA (n = 2). The qepA gene was absent among these isolates. Three types of β-lactamase genes were identified in the five ESBL-producing E. coli isolates: blaCTX-M-1, blaCTX-M-9, and blaTEM-1. The qnrS gene was found to be co-transferred with blaCTX-M-1 and blaTEM-1 in one isolate. Our data suggest that cooked meat products may act as reservoirs for multi-resistant bacteria and facilitate the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes.