MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF Escherichia coli ISOLATED FROM CHICKEN CARCASSES COMMERCIALIZED IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL HARBORING FOSFOMYCIN RESISTANCE GENES

Fosfomycin is a natural antimicrobial with wide spectrum of action against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Resistance to this antimicrobial has been found in strains of Escherichia coli isolated from patients with urinary tract infection, as well as avian origin. Chicken are eligible as the source of animal food most closely linked to human Extraintestinal Pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC), which cause, such as urinary tract infection (UTI). This represents a public health problem due to possible transmission to consumers via food chain, which leads to the hypothesis that the animals can become sources of infection or even reservoirs to the natural persistent source of the infection, contributing to the propagation of these bacteria. Thus, the genotypic characterization of fosfomycin resistance in the E. coli strains isolated in poultry meat was done. In this work, 531 E. coli strains were isolated and identified from chicken carcasses commercialized in the three southern Brazilian states (Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul). The identification was performed by biochemical tests: EPM, MiLi and Citrate to isolate E. coli, and to detect fosfomycin resistance gene, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used. Of the 531 samples analyzed, 23 (4.33%) were positive for resistance gene fosA3, and of these, 21 positive samples were found in chicken carcasses from the Paraná region, this represents 11,6% of the number of samples collected in this state. Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul presented only one positive sample in each state. The increase in avian production was accompanied by an increase in microbial diseases due to the high density of aviaries. In order to control these diseases it has been used antimicrobial agents, which is developing resistance in poultry E. coli strains, not only in Brazil, but also worldwide as findings by others studies. For this reason, the evaluation of chicken meat samples for the presence of resistance to fosfomycin is very necessary since its use is common to treat human and avian infections.