Pet and Stray Dogs as Reservoirs of Antimicrobial-Resistant Escherichia coli

Abstract

The close contact between dogs and humans creates the best bridge for interspecies transmission of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. The surveillance of its resistance including the detection of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) in Escherichia coli as indicator bacteria is an important tool to control the use of antimicrobials. The aim of this research was to evaluate the E. coli resistance in strains by phenotypic methods, isolated from pet and stray dogs of La Plata city, Argentina. Faecal samples were collected using rectal swabs from 50 dogs with owners (home dogs = HD) and 50 homeless dogs (stray dogs = SD). They were cultured in 3 MacConkey agar plates, with and without antibiotics (ciprofloxacin and cefotaxime). 197 strains were isolated, of which only 95 strains were biochemically identified as E. coli, 46 strains were from HD, and 49 were from SD. Antimicrobial susceptibility was evaluated by the Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method. The most prevalent resistance was for tetracycline, streptomycin, and ampicillin. In both groups, the level of resistance to 3rd generation cephalosporins was high, and there were multiresistant strains. There was a higher level of antimicrobial resistance in strains from SD compared to HD. There were 8% of strains suspected of being ESBLs among samples of HD and 36% of SD. One (2%) of the strains isolated from HD and 11 (22%) from SD were phenotypically confirmed as ESBL. Pets and stray dogs are a potential source of E. coli antibiotic resistance in Argentina; therefore, its surveillance must be guaranteed.

Prevalence and Patterns of Antimicrobial Resistance among Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus spp. in a Veterinary University Hospital

“…In agreement with previous data from the veterinary literature, our findings confirmed moderate to low rates of resistance characterizing E. coli isolated from patients without a recent history of antimicrobial therapy, with a low percentage of them being MDR [7,27]. Moreover, the most frequent patterns of resistance in E. coli isolates were observed for aminoglycosides (17%), β-lactams (8%), and tetracycline (8%), as previously reported [7,[27][28][29]. Not surprisingly, the frequency of observed resistance and MDR were higher in E. coli isolates from hospitalized patients than those from consultations; the most common patterns of resistance in the ICU were recorded for penicillins, fluoroquinolones, tetracycline, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (see Table 3).…”

Companion Animals as Potential Reservoirs of Antibiotic Resistant Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in Shandong, China

“…Previous studies point out that the close relationship of humans and their companion animals provide opportunities for sharing strains [ 35 , 36 ]. In this study, most of the isolates were resistant to TET (64.6%), DOX (59.5%) and AM (53.2%), which was similar to reports of E. coli isolates from other studies [ 37 ]. In contrast, other recent studies of E. coli isolates from dogs and cats reported resistance to a wide range of antibiotics, including quinolones and extended-spectrum beta-lactamases [ 38 , 39 ]; these high resistance rates are due to the wide use of antibiotics in companion animals.…”

Antimicrobial Resistance and Prevalence of Extended Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing Escherichia coli from Dogs and Cats in Northeastern China from 2012 to 2021

“…Most Escherichia coli are considered important components of the intestinal flora, but some E. coli carrying virulence genes can act as conditional pathogens to cause intestinal or extraintestinal infections, such as diarrhea, urinary tract infections, sepsis and meningitis, and a proportion of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli can inhabit the intestine as normal flora and cause extraintestinal infections [ 3 , 4 ]. E. coli is one of the most widespread organisms in the intestinal flora and is chronically exposed to antibiotic selection pressure; therefore, testing E. coli isolated from fecal samples for drug resistance is a good indicator of the level of resistance in the intestinal flora [ 5 ].…”