Exploring Antibiotic Resistance Pattern of Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., and Staphylococcus spp. Isolated from Eggs in Rajshahi

Abstract
Chicken eggs are a major component of people’s diets, with an average yearly consumption of approximately 103 eggs per person in Bangladesh. Eggs act as an important carrier of food-borne pathogen worldwide. The study was conducted to identify the prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Staphylococcus spp., in eggs isolated from farms and different markets of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. A total of 60 eggs were collected randomly between April to December 2019. The isolation and identification of bacterial pathogen was done in accordance with standard procedures. The bacterial isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing against seven commonly used antibiotics using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. An overall prevalence of E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Staphylococcus spp. were found to be 35.0%, 28.33%, and 23.33%, respectively. E. coli were found highly resistant to penicillin (100%), tetracycline (80.95%), ampicillin (100%), and erythromycin (85.71%) and were sensitive to amoxicillin (71.42%), ciprofloxacin (85.71%), and gentamicin (95.23%). Salmonella spp. was highly resistant to penicillin (100%), erythromycin (82.35%) and tetracycline (82.35%), and was sensitive to gentamicin (94.11%), amoxicillin (76.47%) and ciprofloxacin (70.58%). Staphylococcus spp. was resistant to penicillin (100%), erythromycin (78.57%), tetracycline (85.71%), amoxicillin (100%), and ampicillin (100%) but sensitive to ciprofloxacin (85.71%), and gentamicin (92.85%). The higher prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria can easily enter the food chain, which poses a public health threat.