Abstract
Extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL)/AmpC producing Enterobacteriaceae have been reported worldwide amongst isolates obtained from humans, food-producing animals, companion animals, and environmental sources. However, data on prevalence of fecal carriage of ESBL/AmpC producing Enterobacteriaceae in healthy companion animals is limited. This pilot study describes the prevalence of ESBL/AmpC encoding genes in healthy cats and dogs, and cats and dogs with diarrhea. Twenty fecal samples of each group were cultured on MacConkey agar supplemented with 1 mg/L cefotaxime and in LB-enrichment broth supplemented with 1 mg/L cefotaxime, which was subsequently inoculated on MacConkey agar supplemented with 1 mg/L cefotaxime. ESBL/AmpC genes were identified using the Check-Points CT103 micro array kit and subsequently by sequencing analysis. Chromosomal ampC promoter mutations were detected by PCR and sequencing analysis. From the healthy and diarrheic dogs, respectively 45 and 55% were positive for Escherichia coli with reduced susceptibility for cefotaxime. From the healthy and diarrheic cats, the estimated prevalence was respectively 0 and 25%. One diarrheic cat was positive for both reduced susceptible E. coli and Proteus mirabilis. The ESBL/AmpC genes found in this study were mainly blaCTX-M-1, but also blaCTX-M-14, blaCTX-M-15, blaTEM-52-StPaul, blaSHV-12, and blaCMY-2 were detected. This pilot study showed that the prevalence of ESBL/AmpC producing Enterobacteriaceae in healthy and diarrheic dogs, and diarrheic cats was relatively high. Furthermore, the genes found were similar to those found in isolates of both human and food-producing animal origin. However, since the size of this study was relatively small, extrapolation of the data to the general population of cats and dogs should be done with great care.
Highlights
Extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL) and plasmid mediated (p)AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae have been isolated from humans, different animal species, and the environment worldwide
11 animals were positive for cefotaxime reduced susceptible (CTX-RS) E. coli (55%), of which eight were positive after direct plating and three more were obtained after selective enrichment
In the animals included in this study there is a high level of intestinal carriage of ESBL/AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae in healthy dogs (45%), and both diarrheic dogs (55%) and cats (25%)
Summary
Extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL) and plasmid mediated (p)AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae have been isolated from humans, different animal species, and the environment worldwide. Several studies have reported the presence of ESBL/pAmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae in clinical samples from companion animals (Schink et al, 2011; Dierikx et al, 2012b; Ewers et al, 2012), knowledge about intestinal carriage of ESBL/AmpC’s in healthy companion animals is limited (Costa et al, 2008; Murphy et al, 2009; Gandolfi-Decristophoris et al, 2013). In these studies, all using different isolation methods, the prevalence of Escherichia coli with reduced susceptibility to 3rd generation cephalosporins in dogs varied from 0 to 17% and in cats from 0 to 12%. The present study combined the analysis of intestinal carriage of Enterobacteriaceae with reduced susceptibility to cefotaxime in both healthy dogs and cats, and dogs and cats with diarrhea
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