Drug resistant <i>Proteus mirabilis</i> and <i>Proteus vulgaris</i> isolated from rats captured from some poultry houses in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria and their Public health importance

Abstract

Proteus mirabilis and Proteus vulgaris are pathogens often associated with drug resistance traits. They are of public health importance with zoonotic status. They have been globally associated with humans and poultry infections. Multidrug resistant strains of these organisms are routinely isolated from organs samples from carcasses of birds submitted for bacteriological diagnostic process in Nigeria with little or no information on their access route to poultry.

Due to often uncontrolled close association of rats with poultry and other materials involved with poultry production in Nigeria, we screened 22 Proteus mirabilis and 1 Proteus vulgaris isolated from rats captured in poultry houses and identified based on standard methods, with further confirmation with Oxoid Microbact GNB 24E® (MB24E) and accompanying computer software package (Oxoid Microbact®) 2000 version 2.03 and by 16S ribosomal RNA PCR identification procedure; for their antibiotic susceptibilities to 10 commonly used antibiotics using standard methods. Subsequently, the fluoroquinolone resistant isolates were PCR screened for point mutation at the gyrA of the quinolone resistant determining region. All the 23 isolates were multi-drug resistant, with 100% resistance to 6/10 of the antibiotics including: ceftazidime, amikacin, sulfamethoxazole, chloramphenicol, ampicillin and streptomycin. One of the 9, high fluoroquinolone resistant isolates MICs ranges 64µg/mL - >128 µg/mL displayed 6 point mutations. This work identified rats as the possible source of multidrug resistant Proteus species for poultry in Nigeria. It also exposes the potential public health risk of the rats transmission of drug resistant factors through the pathogens to humans involved with poultry production in the study area.