Occurrence of High Fluoroquinolone Resistance among Klebsiella Pneumonia from Apparently Healthy Cattle and Swine in Ado - Ekiti, Nigeria

Fluoroquinolones are new generations of antibiotics and are increasingly used in human and veterinary medicine. We tested isolates of 63 and 50 isolates of Klebsiella pneuminiae from cattle and swine respectively from different locations in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria for the susceptibility to fluoroquinolones. Using the agar disk diffusion test, susceptibilities to the following fluoroquinolones were tested: pefloxacin (5μg), norfloxacin (5μg), levofloxacin (5μg), ciprofloxacin (5μg) and enrofloxacin (5μg). Klebsiella pneumonia isolates cultured on Mueller Hinton agar plates were incubated at 37 O C for 24 hours. All plates were examined for zones of inhibition which were measured and appropriately interpreted using standard baseline as specified by the Clinical Laboratory Science Institute. The isolates recovered from cattle showed the highest resistance to levofloxacin 46/63(73.0%) while those isolates from swine showed highest resistance to norfloxacin 44/50 (88.0%) and pefloxacin 44/50 (88.0%). The bacteria showed high level of multiple fluoroquinolone resistance; 13 different fluoroquinolone resistance phenotypes were observed among cattle while 10 phenotypes were observed among swine. These findings buttress the need for proper antibiotic stewardship regarding the use of the fluoroquinolones in animals.