Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance among Escherichia coli from House Flies in a Hospital Area

Abstract

House flies are one of the crucial mechanical vectors spreading resistant bacteria including Escherichia coli. This study aimed to investigate the frequency and resistance patterns of E. coli as well as multidrug resistant (MDR) E. coli isolated from house flies in Phayao Hospital, Thailand. We found 68 of 70 E. coli isolates (97.1%) showed antimicrobial resistance and 49 isolates (70.0%) were MDR). Forty-three patterns of antimicrobial resistance occurred and the number of antimicrobials in co-resistance varied from 1 to 14 of 15 tested antimicrobials. The highest frequency resistance was cephalothin (86.8%), followed by ampicillin and amoxicillin (85.3%) and tetracycline (67.6%). Interestingly, we found resistance to cefotaxime (47.1%), ciprofloxacin (16.2%), norfloxacin (11.8%), imipenem (7.4%) and meropenem (5.9%), which are the antimicrobial classes to treat bacterial infections resistant to empirical agents. Our results indicated the dissemination of resistant E. coli in a hospital environment. Therefore, resistance surveillance and control should be increased.