Author Description

This dissertation, "Antimicrobial Resistance in Escherichia Coli Isolated From Food Animals and Humans" by Chun-wai, Wong,, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract Abstract of thesis entitled "Antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli isolated from food animals and humans" Submitted by Wong Chun Wai for the Degree of Master of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in August 2007 Background Antibiotics are commonly used in food animals for growth promotion purpose and thus create a selective pressure on food animal isolates. It has caused a great concern to society because this emerging problem can potentially lead to the increased occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria of human significance. The spread of antibiotic resistance genes between food animal and human isolates can be mediated by mobile genetic elements including plasmids, transposons, integrons, and gene cassettes integrated into integrons. However, research gap concerning the potential transfer of mobile genetic elements between food animal and human isolates is still not fully understood and only few studies have suggested the widespread problem of integrons in both populations. Objective The aim of the current study is to determine whether there is a potential transfer of antibiotic resistance genes between bacterial isolates from food animals and humans. Methods A total of 174 ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli isolates were obtained from food animals and humans. All isolates were tested by PCR analysis for detection of aminoglycoside resistance genes (aacC2 & aacC4), quinolone resistance ge