Journal article
High diversity of genes and plasmids encoding resistance to third-generation cephalosporins and quinolones in clinical Escherichia coli from commercial poultry flocks in Italy
Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy.1
Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.2
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, 56124, San Piero a Grado, PI, Italy.3
Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy. Electronic address: alessandra.piccirillo@unipd.it.4
The aim was to investigate occurrence and diversity of plasmid-mediated resistance to third-generation cephalosporins (3GC) and quinolones in clinical Escherichia coli from 200 industrial poultry farms across Italy. E. coli was isolated from colibacillosis lesions in turkeys (n = 109), broilers (n = 98) and layers (n = 22) between 2008 and 2012. 3GC-resistant isolates were screened for extended-spectrum and AmpC β-lactamase (ESBL/AmpC), while all isolates were tested for plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes.
ESBL/AmpC- and PMQR-positive isolates were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and their plasmids were characterised by replicon typing, multilocus sequence typing, restriction fragment length polymorphism and conjugation. EBSL/AmpC genes (blaCTX-M-1, blaCTX-M-14, blaCTX-M-2, blaSHV-12 and blaCMY-2) were detected in 7%, 9% and 4% of isolates from turkeys, broilers and layers, respectively.
We identified seven ESBL/AmpC-encoding plasmid types, usually conjugative (78%), with a marked prevalence of IncI1/pST3 plasmids carrying blaCTX-M-1. PMQR occurred less frequently among isolates from turkeys (0.9%) compared to those from broilers (5%) and layers (4%). The PMQR genes qnrS, qnrB19 and oqxA/B were located on three plasmid types and two non-typeable plasmids, mostly (85%) conjugative.
ESBL/AmpC- and PMQR-positive isolates were genetically unrelated and 64% of them were additionally resistant to aminoglycosides, sulfonamides and tetracyclines. Our data show that 3GC- and quinolone-resistant clinical E. coli in Italian poultry production represent a highly diverse population often resistant to most antimicrobials available for poultry.
These findings underline the crucial need to develop new strategies for prevention and control of colibacillosis.
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Year: | 2018 |
| Pages: | 93-98 |
| ISSN: | 18732542 and 03781135 |
| Types: | Journal article |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.vetmic.2018.02.012 |
Animals Anti-Bacterial Agents Bacterial Proteins Broiler CMY Cephalosporins Chickens Clinical Escherichia coli Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial ESBL Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field Escherichia coli Escherichia coli Infections Extended-spectrum cephalosporins Fluoroquinolone Gene Transfer, Horizontal Genes, Bacterial Italy Layer Multilocus Sequence Typing PBRT PMQR Plasmids Poultry Poultry Diseases Quinolones Turkey Turkeys beta-Lactamases
