Multiple drug resistance pattern of Escherichia coli isolated from diarrhoeic calves

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the multiple drug resistance of E. coli from faecal sample of calves suffering from diarrhoea. A total of 30 rectal swabs of diarrhoeic calves were collected from different areas of Rewa (M.P.). Susceptibility to antimicrobials was determined by the disk diffusion test. A total of 15 (50%) E. coli isolates were recovered from rectal swabs of affected calves. All 15 E. coli isolates obtained from 30 rectal samples revealed typical culture characters on the MacConkey agar and Eosin Methylene Blue agar (EMB). Antibiogram showed that all the isolates were found resistant to Ciprofloxacin, Ampicillin, Sulbactam, Cefotaxime, Cephalexin, Gentamicin and amikacin (100% each), followed by Ceftriaxone (83%), Enrofloxacin (73%), while less resistant to Co-trimoxazole and Norfloxacin (13.3 % each). Multiple drug resistance was found in all the isolates. Each isolate showed multiple drug resistance to more than four antibiotics.