Transmission Chains of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae at the Companion Animal Veterinary Clinic-Household Interface

Kira Schmitt; Stefan P Kuster; Katrin Zurfluh; Rahel S Jud; Jane E Sykes; Roger Stephan; Barbara Willi

doi:10.3390/antibiotics10020171

Transmission Chains of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae at the Companion Animal Veterinary Clinic-Household Interface

Antibiotics (Basel). 2021 Feb 9;10(2):171. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics10020171.

Authors

Kira Schmitt^{1

2}, Stefan P Kuster³, Katrin Zurfluh¹, Rahel S Jud⁴, Jane E Sykes⁵, Roger Stephan¹, Barbara Willi⁶

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 272, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
² Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Mittelstrasse 43, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
³ Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 100, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Small Animals, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ Department of Medicine & Epidemiology, University of California-Davis, 2108 Tupper Hall, Davis, CA 95618, USA.
⁶ Clinic for Small Animal Internal Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.

Abstract

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) among animals and humans are a public health threat. This study analyzed the occurrence of ESBL-E in a high-risk environment in a companion animal clinic and two animal patients' households. In an intensive care unit (ICU), rectal swabs from 74 dogs and cats, 74 hand swabs from staff and 298 swabs from surfaces were analyzed for ESBL-E. Seventeen hospitalized patients (23%) and ten (3%) surfaces in the ICU tested ESBL-E positive. Transmission chains for Klebsiella pneumoniae ST307 bla_CTX-M-15 and Escherichia coli ST38 bla_CTX-M-14, ST88 bla_CTX-M-14 and ST224 bla_CTX-M-1 were observed over extended periods of time (14 to 30 days) with similar strains isolated from patients and the clinical environment. After discharge, two colonized dogs (dogs 7 and 12) and their household contacts were resampled. Dog 7 tested repeatedly positive for 77 days, dog 12 tested negative; six (24%) surfaces in the household of the persistently colonized dog tested ESBL-E positive. The owner of dog 7 and one of the owners of dog 12 were colonized. Based on whole genome sequencing, isolates from the owners, their dogs and other ICU patients belonged to the same clusters, highlighting the public health importance of ESBL-E in companion animal clinics.

Keywords: ESBL; antimicrobial resistance; canine; feline; high-risk clone Klebsiella pneumoniae ST307; home; hospital; multidrug resistance.