Abstract:
Escherichia coli are common inhabitant of intestinal tract of many animals and humans. These intestinal
bacteria including antibiotic-resistant bacteria can be easily transferred between animals and humans
especially when there is close contact. Most studies on commensal antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been
limited to food animals and seldom in non human primates. To understand the possible risks to humans in
close contact with captive baboons, we analyzed the phenotype and genetic characteristics of antimicrobial
resistance in ninety seven Escherichia coli isolates recovered from 100 faecal samples of two groups of
captive baboons at the Institute of Primate Research, Kenya. Susceptibility to 16 antibiotics was studied in
these isolates, and the most common resistance observed in E.coli isolated from both group of baboons was
to ampicillin (34.4-36.1%), sulphamethoxazole (33-36.1%), amoxyclav (26.2-30.6%), piperacillin (22.2-23%),
tetracycline (19.7-22.2%), streptomycin (11.1-21.3%), and co-trimoxazole (9.8-25%). The percentage of
resistance to chloramphenicol, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, gentamicin, amikacin and ofloxacin was below 8.2%,
and no resistant isolates were detected for meropenem and ciprofloxacin. Multi-drug resistance was found
in case of 7-8 antibiotics for all strains tested. The blaTEM, blaSHV and bla CTX-M genes were detected in 21, 19
and 5 of 37 ampicillin-resistant isolates respectively, the aadA1 or aadA2 genes in 5 of 20 streptomycinresistant isolates and cmlA in 5 of 8 chloramphenicol-resistant isolates. It may be concluded that captive
baboons may be a potential reservoir for zonotic transmission of multidrug resistance gene to humans and
therefore minimal contact with these animals should be maintained.
Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance, Escherichia coli, CTX-M, Baboons.
