Oxytetracycline (OTC) is administered in the poultry industry for the treatment of digestive and respiratory diseases. The use of OTC may contribute to the selection of resistant bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract of birds or in the environment. To determine the effect of OTC on the selection of resistant Escherichia coli strains post-treatment, bacteria were isolated from droppings and litter sampled from untreated and treated birds. Bacterial susceptibility to tetracyclines was determined by the Kirby-Bauer test. A total of 187 resistant isolates were analyzed for the presence of tet(A), (B), (C), (D), (E), and (M) genes by PCR. Fifty-four strains were analyzed by PFGE for subtyping. The proportion of tetracycline-resistant E. coli strains isolated was 42.88%. The susceptibility of the strains was treatment-dependent. A high clonal diversity was observed, with the tet(A) gene being the most prevalent, followed by tet(C). Even at therapeutic doses, there is selection pressure on resistant E. coli strains. The most prevalent resistance genes were tet(A) and tet(C), which could suggest that one of the main mechanisms of resistance of E. coli to tetracyclines is through active efflux pumps.
Keywords: Escherichia coli; antibiotic resistance; broiler litter; droppings; oxytetracycline; resistance genes.