Virulence and Antibiotic Resistance Patterns in E. coli, Morocco.

Of 28 non-duplicate isolates of Escherichia coli recovered from yellow-legged Larus michahellis in Morocco, 92.86% were resistant to more than three antibiotics and 71.4% were multidrug resistant. Phylogenetic group A was most predominant (57.14%), followed by B1 (18%), B2 (14.28%) and F (10.71%). One isolate was resistant to ertapenem and contained the bla gene. The plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance determinants were detected in nine isolates (aac(6')-Ib-cr, qnrS1, qnrB1). Thirteen isolates carried one of the Shiga toxin E. coli-associated genes: stx1 (n = 6), stx2 (n = 5) and eae (n = 2) genes. Our data support the idea that gull feces may create potential public health risk.