Antimicrobial resistance patterns of commensal isolated from feces of non-diarrheic dogs in Grenada, West Indies.

BACKGROUND AND AIM

There is currently no published information on the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of commensal in dogs of Grenada origin. Monitoring antimicrobial resistance helps in the empirical selection of antibiotics. This study determined the occurrence of including the O157:H7 serotype in feces of non-diarrheic dogs of Grenada origin and the antibiotic resistance pattern of the isolates.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Fecal samples from 142 of the 144 (98.6%) dogs were culture positive for . Selection of up to three colonies from each of the 142 -positive samples yielded a total of 402 isolates, which were analyzed for the presence of non-sorbitol fermenting colonies, and O157-agglutination.

RESULTS

Of the 402 isolates, 30 (7.5%) were non-sorbitol fermenters. However, none of the 402 isolates gave a positive reaction (O157:H7) to the O157:H7 latex kit. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests against 12 antibiotics revealed low resistance rates to all the tested antibiotics except for tetracycline (Te) (23.4%), cephalothin (CF) (13.2%), and ampicillin (AM) (7.7%). Thirty-nine out of the 402 (9.7%), isolates were resistant to two or more antibiotics of different classes.

CONCLUSION

This is the first report of isolation and antimicrobial susceptibilities of commensal from non-diarrheic dogs in Grenada. Some of the isolates (39/402 isolates, 9.7%) were resistant to multiple antibiotics. This study showed that presently, dogs in Grenada should not be considered a reservoir for the O157:H7 serotype and for multiple antibiotic-resistant strains. Among the 402 isolates, the resistance rate to drugs other than Te, CF, and AM was very low.