Abstract
The putative virulence and antimicrobial resistance gene contents of extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-positive E. coli (n=629) isolated between 2005 and 2009 from humans, animals and animal food products in Germany, The Netherlands and the UK were compared using a microarray approach to test the suitability of this approach with regard to determining their similarities. A selection of isolates (n=313) were also analysed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Isolates harbouring bla CTX-M-group-1 dominated (66%, n=418) and originated from both animals and cases of human infections in all three countries; 23% (n=144) of all isolates contained both bla CTX-M-group-1 and bla OXA-1-like genes, predominantly from humans (n=127) and UK cattle (n=15). The antimicrobial resistance and virulence gene profiles of this collection of isolates were highly diverse. A substantial number of human isolates (32%, n=87) did not share more than 40% similarity (based on the Jaccard coefficient) with animal isolates. A further 43% of human isolates from the three countries (n=117) were at least 40% similar to each other and to five isolates from UK cattle and one each from Dutch chicken meat and a German dog; the members of this group usually harboured genes such as mph(A), mrx, aac(6’)-Ib, catB3, bla OXA-1-like and bla CTX-M-group-1. forty-four per cent of the MLST-typed isolates in this group belonged to ST131 (n=18) and 22% to ST405 (n=9), all from humans. Among animal isolates subjected to MLST (n=258), only 1.2% (n=3) were more than 70% similar to human isolates in gene profiles and shared the same MLST clonal complex with the corresponding human isolates. The results suggest that minimising human-to-human transmission is essential to control the spread of ESBL-positive E. coli in humans.
Highlights
Escherichia coli is a commensal organism in people and animals but is a causative agent of diarrhoea and extraintestinal infections
The Dutch human isolates were selected from a national ESBL-prevalence study conducted in Public Health Laboratory Services in 2009 [13] and the animal isolates were selected from the collection of the NRL for Antimicrobial Resistance (NRL-AR) (CVI)
The majority of isolates were either commensal or extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) and typically harbouring prfB and/or iroN or microcin genes; 13% of isolates (n=80) contained tsh, a gene often associated with avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) [31]
Summary
Escherichia coli is a commensal organism in people and animals but is a causative agent of diarrhoea and extraintestinal infections It is responsible for an estimated 120 million cases of community-acquired urinary tract infections (UTI) diagnosed worldwide annually. Since circa 2003, there has been a rapid and global increase in the occurrence of E. coli with resistance to oxyiminocephalosporins due to the production of extended-spectrum βlactamases (ESBLs). These isolates have emerged in both community and healthcare settings, are often resistant to other antimicrobial agents, including fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides and sulphonamides and resistant isolates have been associated with treatment failures [3]. The CTX-M-15 ESBL is pandemic and is often disseminated with the O25:H4-ST131 E. coli clone [5,6,7]
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