Shared bicycles are prevailing in China but the extent to which they contribute to maintaining and transmitting pathogens and antibiotic-resistant bacteria remain largely unknown. To fill the knowledge gap, herein, swab samples (n = 963) were collected from handlebars of shared bicycles in areas of hospital, school, metro station (n = 887) and riders (n = 76) in Chengdu, China. Staphylococci (n = 241) and Enterococci (n = 69) were widely distributed across sampling locations at a frequency of 2.3%-12.9%, and 0.08%-5.5%, respectively. Bicycle or rider-borne Gram-positive bacteria were frequently resistant to clinically important antibiotics including linezolid, fosfomycin, and vancomycin, and a significant portion of these isolates (3.4%-16.6% for Staphylococci and 0.1%-13.8% for Enterococci) indicated multidrug resistance. Nineteen Staphylococcus aureus isolates were identified in this collection and 52.6% of which were considered as methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Whole genome sequencing further characterized 26 antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) including fosB, fusB, and lnu(G) in S. aureus and 21 ARGs including optrA in Enterococci. Leveraging a complementary approach with conventional MLST, whole genome SNP and MLST analyses, we present that genetically closely-related bacteria were found in bicycles and riders across geographical-distinct locations suggesting bacterial transmission. Further, five new ST types 5697-5701 were firstly characterized in S. aureus. ST 942 and ST 1640 are new ST types observed in E. faecalis, and E. faecium, respectively. Our results highlighted the risk of shared bicycle system in disseminating pathogens and antibiotic resistance which warrants effective disinfections.
Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; Environmental contamination; Public transportation; Shared bicycle.
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