High prevalence and diversity of extended-spectrum β-lactamase and emergence of OXA-48 producing Enterobacterales in wildlife in Catalonia

PLoS One. 2019 Aug 5;14(8):e0210686. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210686. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Most of the studies focused on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) performed in wildlife describe Escherichia coli as the principal indicator of the selective pressure. In the present study, several species of Enterobacterales with a large panel of cephalosporin resistant (CR) genes have been isolated from wildlife in Catalonia. A total of 307 wild animals were examined to determine the prevalence of CR enterobacteria, AMR phenotypes and the presence of common carbapenem and CR genes. The overall prevalence of CR-phenotype was 13% (40/307): 17.3% in wild mammals (18/104) and 11.5% in wild birds (22/191) (p<0.01). Hedgehogs showed the highest prevalence (13.5% of 104) of the mammal specimens, and raptors the highest in bird specimen (7.3% of 191). Although CR E. coli was the most frequently isolated (45%), other CR- Enterobacterales like Klebsiella pneumoniae (20%), Citrobacter freundii (15%), Enterobacter cloacae (5%), Proteus mirabilis (5%), Providencia spp (5%) and Serratia marcescens (2.5%) were also isolated. A high diversity of CR genes was identified among the isolates, with 50% yielding blaCMY-2, 23% blaSHV-12, 20% blaCMY-1 and 18% blaCTX-M-15. Additionally, resistance to carbapenems associated to OXA-48 gene was found. Most of the CR isolates, principally K. pneumoniae and C. freundii, were multi-resistant with co-resistance to fluoroquinolones, tetracycline, sulphonamides and aminoglycosides. This study reports high prevalence of Enterobacterales harbouring a variety of CR genes and OXA-48 mediated-carbapenem resistance, all of them frequently associated to nosocomial human infections, for the first time in wild mammals and wild birds. Implementation of control measures to reduce the impact of anthropogenic pressure in the environment is urgently needed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Wild / microbiology*
  • Biodiversity*
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial
  • Gammaproteobacteria / drug effects
  • Gammaproteobacteria / enzymology
  • Gammaproteobacteria / isolation & purification*
  • Gammaproteobacteria / metabolism*
  • Spain
  • beta-Lactamases / biosynthesis*

Substances

  • beta-Lactamases

Grants and funding

The contract of LMG was supported by the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) and the European Social Fund. AV was supported by a PIF grant from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.