Occurrence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and O26 sorbitol negative in a cattle slaughterhouse and susceptibility to antimicrobials

Cattle beef could be a way of transmitting Escherichia coli O157: H7 and non-O157 to humans if they consume undercooked meat, being responsible for causing severe diseases such as hemolytic uremic syndrome. Bacterial resistance has become worrying concerning the efficacy in the treatment of diseases, and because of these aspects, the objective of this study was to verify the occurrence of E. coli O157: H7 and non-O157 in the stages of cattle slaughter and to evaluate the susceptibility of these bacteria against antimicrobial action. We collected from a cattle slaughterhouse 21 samples from manipulators' hands, 21 from knives and 300 from 50 animals in six points of the flowchart. The isolation was performed using the CT-SMAC agar and characterization of serotypes by PCR. There was higher occurrence of E. coli O157: H7 (12.0%) in animals and lower prevalence of E. coli O26 (8.0%) and O113 (2.0%). E. coli O26 was present in 9.52% of the knives. The presence of E. coli non-O157 sorbitol negative was an unexpected fact due to the method of isolation. All E. coli O157: H7 isolates were sensitive to tetracycline, cefepime, cefoxitin, ciprofloxacin and sulphazotrim, and 78.85% of them were resistant to cephalothin and 34.61% to ampicillin. All E. coli O26 were sensitive to cefepime, cefoxitin and sulphazotrim, and 88.23% were resistant to tetracycline and cephalothin and 82.35% to ampicillin. The antimicrobial multiresistance was observed in both serotypes. It should be, therefore, a criteria for using antimicrobial in treatments to avoid become a public health concern.