Street Vended Foods, A Critical Source of Antimicrobial Resistant Escherichia Coli in Douala, Cameroon

Abstract Background: Street vended foods could be defined as ready-to-eat food or beverage especially sold in streets and others public places valued by low-income countries urban populations for their convenience and nutritional importance. These foods represent a serious public health threat due to poor hygienic handling conditions, lack of microbiological quality status and poor food safety measures. In the present study, we assessed for the first time the antimicrobial susceptibility of Escherichia coli strains isolated from some street vended foods sold and commonly consumed by the urban population of Douala Cameroon. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Douala urban council in Littoral region of Cameroon. One hundred and seventeen (117) street foods samples were randomly collected using a stratified sampling method, the E. coli species were isolated and identified by culture-dependent method and biochemical test, and finally, the antimicrobial susceptibility test was assessed according to EUCAST 2021. Results: The results indicated that 45.3% of street foods were contaminated by β-glucuronidase Positive Escherichia coli and 6% by Extended Spectrum β-lactamase E. coli. The antimicrobial resistance profile of β-glucuronidase positive Escherichia coli and Extended spectrum β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli isolates showed respectively high (20%-80%) and very high (50%-100%) resistance rates to several antibiotics interestingly a very high (93.33%) multidrug resistance rate was observed, even for nine antibiotics classes in E. coli analyzed strains. Conclusion: These findings revealed that street vended foods may be a critical source of β-glucuronidase positive, Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase and multidrug resistance E. coli strain in Douala. Keywords: Street vended foods; Antimicrobial resistance; Multidrug resistance; ESβL Escherichia coli; Douala; Cameroon