antibiotics Article Antibiotic and Metal Resistance in Escherichia coli Isolated from Pig Slaughterhouses in the United Kingdom Hongyan Yang 1,2,*, Shao-Hung Wei 2,3, Jon L. Hobman 2 and Christine E. R. Dodd 2 1 College of Life Sciences, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China 2 School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Sutton Bonington, Leicestershire LE12 5RD, UK;
[email protected] (S.-H.W.);
[email protected] (J.L.H.);
[email protected] (C.E.R.D.) 3 JHL Biotech, Zhubei City, Hsinchu County 302, Taiwan * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 28 September 2020; Accepted: 27 October 2020; Published: 28 October 2020 Abstract: Antimicrobial resistance is currently an important concern, but there are few data on the co-presence of metal and antibiotic resistance in potentially pathogenic Escherichia coli entering the food chain from pork, which may threaten human health. We have examined the phenotypic and genotypic resistances to 18 antibiotics and 3 metals (mercury, silver, and copper) of E. coli from pig slaughterhouses in the United Kingdom. The results showed resistances to oxytetracycline, streptomycin, sulphonamide, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole, ceftiofur, amoxicillin–clavulanic acid, aztreonam, and nitrofurantoin. The top three resistances were oxytetracycline (64%), streptomycin (28%), and sulphonamide (16%). Two strains were resistant to six kinds of antibiotics. Three carried the blaTEM gene. Fifteen strains (18.75%) were resistant to 25 µg/mL mercury and five (6.25%) of these to 50 µg/mL; merA and merC genes were detected in 14 strains. Thirty-five strains (43.75%) showed resistance to silver, with 19 possessing silA, silB, and silE genes.