Evaluation and characterization of plasmids carrying CTX-M genes in a non-clonal population of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae isolated from poultry in Brazil

Abstract

The increasing presence of ESBL-producing bacteria in food-producing animals might impact on public health. In this study, ESBL-producing enterobacteria were investigated in the microbiota of chickens produced in Brazil. We detected blaCTX-M-2, blaCTX-M-8 and blaCTX-M-15 in 13 Escherichia coli isolates, within 9 different PFGE-types. Escherichia fergusonii and Klebsiella pneumoniae were found carrying blaCTX-M-2. Plasmid Inc groups found included repF, FIB, FIC, I1, Y, B/O, A/C, K and HI1. F plasmids were present in 87.5% of the isolates, however, no resistance gene was harbored in this replicon. The pMLST for IncI1 showed ST113 and the novel ST130, ST131 and ST132 harboring blaCTX-M-8. IncK plasmids carried blaCTX-M-2 in one E. coli isolate. Non-typeable plasmids carrying blaCTX-M-2 or blaCTX-M-15 had up to 260kb. blaCTX-M-2 was also associated with class I integron and ISCR1 and blaCTX-M-8 with IS10. Overall, similar resistance elements were disseminated among a diverse population of ESBL-producing enterobacteria.

Virulence potential of commensal multidrug resistant Escherichia coli isolated from poultry in Brazil

“…In this study, we characterized the presence of the virulence genes in a collection of ESBL-and AmpC-producing E. coli isolates from commercial chickens previously reported as MDR bacteria (Ferreira et al 2016). The use of antimicrobials does not lead to the selection of virulent strains, but rather to the spread and maintenance of resistance genes among commensal strains (Johnson et al 2010).…”

“…Forty-four MDR E. coli isolates were selected from a previous characterized bacterial collection, harvested from apparently healthy poultry in Brazil in 2013 (Ferreira et al 2016;Ferreira et al 2017). Approved by the local Ethics Committee on the Use of Animals, protocol number 12.1.248.53.7.…”

Antimicrobial Resistance in Farm Animals in Brazil: An Update Overview

“…Part of isolates characterized by Fernandes and coworkers was not able to transfer bla CTX-M-2 to E. coli, suggesting a possible chromosomal location of this gene [145]. In contrast, in E. coli, most studies suggest a chromosomal location of bla CTX-M-2 with a few reports of this gene in plasmids belonging to IncK, IncHI2, IncP incompatibility groups ranging from 35 to 280 kb [137,139,146,147,157]. Always when investigated, both in Salmonella sp.…”

“…Since then, particularly after 2014, extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and plasmid-mediated AmpC (pAmpC) encoding-genes have been extensively reported in chicken and chicken meat produced in Brazil. Studies indicate that these genes are mainly carried by E. coli and nontyphoid Salmonella, but also by Escherichia fergusonii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter diversus, and Proteus mirabilis [136][137][138][139][140]. Reports include animals on farms [36,[136][137][138][141][142][143][144][145][146][147], whole carcasses, or meat pieces available in Brazilian retail markets [69,136,138,140,145,148,149], and exported chicken meat [150][151][152].…”

Characterization of cefotaxime resistant Escherichia coli isolated from broiler farms in Ecuador

“…The aim of this research was to study antimicrobial resistance in E. coli from intensive 242 poultry farming. The lack of this kind of data from Latin America makes this study one of 243 the few available reports that demonstrate the extent of ESBL/AmpC E. coli in 244 commercial poultry in the region [38][39][40]. Nonetheless, developed countries have also 245 reported both a high prevalence of ESBL E. coli and the presence of multiresistant 246 isolates from broiler flocks [41,42].…”