Antibiotic Resistance Profiling of E. coli Isolates

During a two-year period, a total of 15 E. coli strains from the level of the small intestine of pigs having acute diarrheal diseases were recovered. The bacteria isolation was made, following the standard protocol within the bacterial determinations. MacConkey (MAC; Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) agar specific was used to develop E. coli strains. The lactose-fermenting (pink) E. coli colonies were subsequently selected and cultured on triple sugar iron (TSI; Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK) slopes and tryptone soy agar (TSA, Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK). In addition, the presumptive E. coli colonies were Gram-stained and cultured on TSA agar to be identified based on their biochemical properties with the API 20E typing system (BioMérieux, Marcy L'Etoile, France).
The ATCC 25922 E. coli was used as a control strain, with whole bacterial strains maintained on nutrient agar. From the collected samples, the bacterial resistance of the 15 isolates was initially tested. The susceptibility was tested through the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion standardized technique, completed by measuring the diameter of the growth inhibition zone. The strains were classified as resistant or sensitive to the drug, according to the current interpretation standards presented in the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Disc Susceptibility Tests [28 (link)–30 (link)].