Escherichia coli O157:H7 is one of the most dangerous zoonotic pathogens of meat. The present investigation was done to study the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of E. coli O157:H7 strains isolated from raw meat samples. A total of 458 meat samples were collected. Samples were cultured using what? After which sorbitol negative isolates were analyzed for rfbO157 and flicH7 genes. Thirty-six out of 458 meat samples were positive for sorbitol negative strains of E. coli (7.86%). All of the sorbitol negative strains were also positive for rfbO157 and flicH7 genes. Prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 strains were 7.86%. The prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in chicken meat was higher than the other samples (16.25%). The genes that encode resistance to ampicillin (CITM) (100%), gentamicin (aac(3)-IV) (94.44%) and tetracycline (tetA) (61.11%) had the highest prevalence. Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains from raw meat samples from ruminants and poultry had the highest resistance to ampicillin (100%), tetracycline (83.33%) and gentamicin (83.33%) respectively. Strains of antibiotic resistant E. coli 0157:H7 found in this present study are of public health importance.

Escherichia coli O157:H7, raw meat, antibiotic resistance pattern, antibiotic resistance genes