Acquisition and carriage of multidrug‐resistant organisms in dogs and cats presented to small animal practices and clinics in Switzerland

Abstract

Background: The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) present a threat to human and animal health. Objectives: To assess acquisition, prevalence of and risk factors for MDRO carriage in dogs and cats presented to veterinary clinics or practices in Switzerland. Animals: Privately owned dogs (n = 183) and cats (n = 88) presented to 4 veterinary hospitals and 1 practice. Methods: Prospective, longitudinal, observational study. Oronasal and rectal swabs were collected at presentation and 69% of animals were sampled again at discharge. Methicillin-resistant (MR) staphylococci and macrococci, cephalosporinase-, and carbapenemase-producing (CP) Enterobacterales were isolated. Genetic relatedness of isolates was assessed by repetitive sequence-based polymerase chain reaction and multilocus sequence typing. Risk factors for MDRO acquisition and carriage were analyzed based on questionnaire-derived and hospitalization data. Results: Admission prevalence of MDRO carriage in pets was 15.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 11.4-20.4). The discharge prevalence and acquisition rates were 32.1% (95% CI, 25.5-39.3) and 28.3% (95% CI, 22-35.4), respectively. Predominant hospitalacquired isolates were extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-E coli; 17.3%) and β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.7%). At 1 institution, a cluster of 24 highly genetically related CP (bla oxa181 and bla oxa48) was identified.

Duration of carriage of multidrug-resistant bacteria in dogs and cats in veterinary care and co-carriage with their owners

“…At presentation of their animal to a veterinary clinic or practice owners were invited to participate in the study by filling in a pet-centered and owner-centered risk-factor questionnaire and by submitting nasal swabs and fecal samples for culture. In addition, their dogs and cats were sampled via oro-nasal and rectal swabs at presentation and discharge from the veterinary hospitals as previously described [ 11 ]. If either owner or pet carried a MDRO, owners were invited to participate in a follow-up study, which foresaw monthly resampling until at least two negative results had been obtained.…”

“…Five owner-cat pairs and 16 owner-dog pairs were followed to monitor for co-colonization. The part of this study in the grey box has been previously reported [ 11 ]. Abbreviations: MDROs, multidrug-resistant organisms.…”

“…Like human hospitals, veterinary hospital environments favor the selection and transmission of MDROs due to a high density of susceptible patients and the selective pressure exerted by the use of broad acting antimicrobials [ 9 ]. During their hospitalization, small animal patients may therefore acquire MDROs [ 10 , 11 ]. Understanding the risk of cross-species transfer of MDROs or relevant resistance genes between MDRO carrying pets and their owners is a central element when tacking the One Health aspects of AMR [ 8 , [12] , [13] , [14] ].…”

“…As part of a large multicenter project to assess the role of companion animal medicine in the selection and dissemination of MDROs, we recently reported a high rate of acquisition of 3rd generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales (3GC-R-Ent.) by cats and dogs in veterinary hospitals in Switzerland [ 11 ]. Acquisition of genetically closely related 3GC-R-Ent.…”

Role played by the environment in the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through the food chain

“…in Salmonella Heidelberg. This presents a potential threat of introduction of this vertically transmitted organism into the EU poultry production environment via escape of organisms from processing waste or from infected humans, or pets consuming raw meat based foods (Souza et al., 2020; Dazio et al., 2021). A recent international Salmonella outbreak caused by powdered egg and linked to persistent contamination of a spray drying machine also illustrates the role of post‐harvest contamination of the processing environment (Labska et al., 2021).…”