Multiple and High-Risk Clones of Extended-Spectrum Cephalosporin-Resistant and blaNDM-5-Harbouring Uropathogenic Escherichia coli from Cats and Dogs in Thailand

Naiyaphat Nittayasut; Jitrapa Yindee; Pongthai Boonkham; Teerapong Yata; Nipattra Suanpairintr; Pattrarat Chanchaithong

doi:10.3390/antibiotics10111374

Multiple and High-Risk Clones of Extended-Spectrum Cephalosporin-Resistant and bla_NDM-5-Harbouring Uropathogenic Escherichia coli from Cats and Dogs in Thailand

Antibiotics (Basel). 2021 Nov 10;10(11):1374. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics10111374.

Authors

Naiyaphat Nittayasut¹, Jitrapa Yindee¹, Pongthai Boonkham², Teerapong Yata³, Nipattra Suanpairintr⁴, Pattrarat Chanchaithong^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
² Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
³ Biochemistry Unit, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
⁴ Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
⁵ Research Unit in Microbial Food Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

Abstract

Resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESC) and carbapenems in Escherichia coli (E. coli), increasingly identified in small animals, indicates a crisis of an antimicrobial resistance situation in veterinary medicine and public health. This study aimed to characterise the genetic features of ESC-resistant E. coli isolated from cats and dogs with urinary tract infections in Thailand. Of 72 ESC-resistant E. coli isolated from diagnostic samples (2016-2018), bla_CTX-M including group 1 (CTX-M-55, -15 and -173) and group 9 (CTX-M-14, -27, -65 and -90) variants were detected in 47 isolates (65.28%) using PCR and DNA sequencing. Additional antimicrobial resistance genes, including plasmid-mediated AmpC (CIT and DHA), bla_NDM-5, mcr-3, mph(A) and aac(6')-Ib-cr, were detected in these isolates. Using a broth microdilution assay, all the strains exhibited multidrug-resistant phenotypes. The phylogroups were F (36.11%), A (20.83%), B1 (19.44%), B2 (19.44%) and D (4.17%), with several virulence genes, plasmid replicons and an integrase gene. The DNA fingerprinting using a repetitive extragenic palindromic sequence-PCR presented clonal relationships within phylogroups. Multiple human-associated, high-risk ExPEC clones associated with multidrug resistance, including sequence type (ST) 38, ST131, ST224, ST167, ST354, ST410, ST617 and ST648, were identified, suggesting clonal dissemination. Dogs and cats are a potential reservoir of ESC-resistant E. coli and significant antimicrobial resistance genes.

Keywords: blaCTX-M; carbapenemase; clones; pet; uropathogenic Escherichia coli.