Gentamicin Resistance on Escherichia coli Isolated from Cats

Antibiotic resistance is currently an important problem in the field of animal and human health. The main triggering factor for the incidence of bacterial resistance is wisdom in the use of antibiotics. Handling cases of bacterial infections in cats still make antibiotics be the main choice. One of the antibiotics that is still used in cases of bacterial infection in cats is gentamicin. The use of this antibiotic is oriented towards treating ear infections (otitis). Bacteria that are often found as the cause of otitis cases come from Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Resistance to bacteria in the ear cavity can occur through uncontrolled use of antibiotics or interactions with other bacteria that are resistant. Interactions between bacteria that cause the transfer of genetic material carrying resistant traits have been widely reported in Gram-negative bacteria through plasmid intermediaries. Body licking behavior in cats allows interactions between bacteria from different habitats, especially Escherichia coli from the digestive tract. Escherichia coli has been reported to have developed resistance in various animals and humans. The study aimed to measure the resistance level of Escherichia coli isolated from cats to gentamicin. The method used in this research is disk diffusion Kirby-Bauer. The results of this study show that 56 samples of cat rectal swab are isolated from Escherichia coli and confirmed by biochemical tests. There are 11 samples (19.64%) showing resistance and 45 (80.36%) susceptible samples. These results indicate that gentamicin can still be one of the antibiotics choice in the treatment of cases of Escherichia coli infection in both the ear cavity and digestive tract..