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The presence of antimicrobial-resistant Enterococci in poultry is a growing public health concern worldwide due to its potential for transmission to humans. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and patterns of antimicrobial resistance and to detect drug-resistant genes in Enterococcus faecalis and E. faecium in poultry from four districts in Zambia. Identification of Enterococci was conducted using phenotypic methods. Antimicrobial resistance was determined using the disc diffusion method and antimicrobial resistance genes were detected using polymerase chain reaction and gene-specific primers. The overall prevalence of Enterococci was 31.1% (153/492, 95% CI: 27.1–35.4). Enterococcus faecalis had a significantly higher prevalence at 37.9% (58/153, 95% CI: 30.3–46.1) compared with E. faecium, which had a prevalence of 10.5% (16/153, 95% CI: 6.3–16.7). Most of the E. faecalis and E. faecium isolates were resistant to tetracycline (66/74, 89.2%) and ampicillin and erythromycin (51/74, 68.9%). The majority of isolates were susceptible to vancomycin (72/74, 97.3%). The results show that poultry are a potential source of multidrug-resistant E. faecalis and E. faecium strains, which can be transmitted to humans. Resistance genes in the Enterococcus species can also be transmitted to pathogenic bacteria if they colonize the same poultry, thus threatening the safety of poultry production, leading to significant public health concerns.

Tsetse flies are obligate hematophagous vectors of animal and human African trypanosomosis. They cyclically transmit pathogenic Trypanosoma species. The endosymbiont Sodalis glossinidius is suggested to play a role in facilitating the susceptibility of tsetse flies to trypanosome infections. Therefore, this study was aimed at determining the prevalence of S. glossinidius and trypanosomes circulating in tsetse flies and checking whether an association exists between trypanosomes and Sodalis infections in tsetse flies from Kafue National Park in Zambia. A total of 326 tsetse flies were sampled from the Chunga and Ngoma areas of the national park. After DNA extraction was conducted, the presence of S. glossinidius and trypanosome DNA was checked using PCR. The Chi-square test was carried out to determine whether there was an association between the presence of S. glossinidius and trypanosome infections. Out of the total tsetse flies collected, the prevalence of S. glossinidius and trypanosomes was 21.8% and 19.3%, respectively. The prevalence of S. glossinidius was 22.2% in Glossina morsitans and 19.6% in Glossina pallidipes. In relation to sampling sites, the prevalence of S. glossinidius was 26.0% in Chunga and 21.0% in Ngoma. DNA of trypanosomes was detected in 18.9% of G. morsitans and 21.4% of G. pallidipes. The prevalence of trypanosomes was 21.7% and 6.0% for Ngoma and Chunga, respectively. The prevalences of trypanosome species detected in this study were 6.4%, 4.6%, 4.0%, 3.7%, 3.1%, and 2.5% for T. vivax, T. simiae, T. congolense, T. godfreyi, T. simiae Tsavo, and T. b. brucei, respectively. Out of 63 trypanosome infected tsetse flies, 47.6% of the flies also carried S. glossinidius, and the remaining flies were devoid of S. glossinidius. A statistically significant association was found between S. glossinidius and trypanosomes (p < 0.001) infections in tsetse flies. Our findings indicated that presence of S. glossinidius increases the susceptibility of tsetse flies to trypanosome infections and S. glossinidius could be a potential candidate for symbiont-mediated vector control in these tsetse species.