Phenotypic and genotypic characterisation of antimicrobial resistance in faecal bacteria from 30 Giant pandas

To study the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in faecal bacteria from Giant pandas in China, 59 isolates were recovered from faecal pats of 30 Giant pandas. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the isolates was performed by the standardised disk diffusion method (Kirby-Bauer). Of the 59 study isolates, 32.20% were resistant to at least one antimicrobial and 16.95% showed multidrug-resistant phenotypes. Thirteen drug resistance genes [aph(3′)-IIa, aac(6′)-Ib, ant(3″)-Ia, aac(3)-IIa, sul1, sul2, sul3, tetA, tetC, tetM, cat1, floR and cmlA] were analysed using four primer sets by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The detection frequency of the aph(3′)-IIa gene was the highest (10.17%), followed by cmlA (8.47%). The genes aac(6′)-Ib, sul2 and tetA were not detected. PCR products were confirmed by DNA sequence analysis. The results revealed that multidrug resistance was widely present in bacteria isolated from Giant pandas.