title: Antimicrobial resistance and pathogenicity of Escherichia coli isolated from common dairy products in the Lebanon.
abstract: In a recent study, bacteria have been isolated from popular Lebanese dairy products, which had been collected in the Beqaa Valley, in north-eastern Lebanon. The foods investigated were two cheeses (shankleesh and baladi) and a dried fermented mixture of yogurt and wheat grains (kishk). Bacterial colonies on McConkey and sorbitol-McConkey agar that showed the morphology of Escherichia coli were biochemically tested and then classified, using PCR-based assays, into the various strains of pathogenic and non-pathogenic E. coli. Some of the confirmed E. coli isolates were proven to be pathogenic, including two identified as E. coli O157:H7. When the pathogenic isolates were tested for their susceptibility to 10 different antibiotics (all commonly used, by clinicians and veterinarians, for the treatment of infections with Gram-negative bacteria), each tested isolate was found to be highly resistant to at least one antibiotic. It therefore appears that, in Lebanon, some popular dairy products pose a public-health hazard, acting as vehicles for the transmission of drug-resistant pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Dubai International School, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saleh
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zouhairi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alwan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hawi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barbour
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harakeh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002417:Cattle; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003611:Dairy Products / Q000382:microbiology*; D003612:Dairying; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents