Antibiotic resistance is a mushrooming pandemic at national and international levels which if not controlled at this very moment, can lead to global problems. Main reason for emerging bacterial resistance is repeated exposure of bacteria to antimicrobial agents and access of bacteria to increasingly large pools of antimicrobial resistance genes in mixed bacterial populations. A total of 51 villages were sampled in the current study contributing to a total of 153 farms. A total of 612 samples comprising 153 each of raw pooled milk samples, slurry, animal drinking water and human drinking water were gathered from small, medium and large farms located in all seven tehsils of Ludhiana district of Punjab. In addition to that, 37 samples of village pond water were also collected from the targeted villages. Out of total 153 slurry, raw pooled milk samples, animal drinking water and human drinking water samples (each), the prevalence of 24.8%, 60%, 26.7% and 16.3% was found for E. coli respectively. On the other hand, for Klebsiella, the overall prevalence of 19.6%, 51%, 20.2% and 5.8% was found from slurry, raw pooled milk samples, animal drinking water and human drinking water respectively. In all matrices, the comparative frequency of resistance genes in positive isolates of E. coli and K. pneumoniae was: tetA > tetB > tetC, qnrS > qnrB > qnrA, sulII > sulI > sulIII. The highest proportion of resistance genes was found in slurry (193 genes) followed by milk (71 genes). The overall pattern of resistant genes was tetA > sulII > qnrS. In conclusion, data from the present study suggested that commensal E. coli and Klebsiella may act as reservoirs of antimicrobial drug resistance genes which may be mobilised into human populations and untreated animal waste may be considered an important source of resistant bacteria leading to environmental pollution.
Keywords: Antibiotic resistance; E. coli and K. pneumoniae; Milk; Resistance genes; Slurry; Water.