Antimicrobial resistance and associated genetic background of Histophilus somni isolated from clinically affected and healthy cattle

Yuichi Ueno; Kenta Suzuki; Yuji Takamura; Kaori Hoshinoo; Daisuke Takamatsu; Ken Katsuda

doi:10.3389/fvets.2022.1040266

Antimicrobial resistance and associated genetic background of Histophilus somni isolated from clinically affected and healthy cattle

Front Vet Sci. 2022 Oct 25:9:1040266. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.1040266. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yuichi Ueno¹, Kenta Suzuki², Yuji Takamura³, Kaori Hoshinoo¹, Daisuke Takamatsu^{1

4}, Ken Katsuda⁵

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Animal Disease Research, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, NARO, Tsukuba, Japan.
² Nagano Prefectural Matsumoto Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Matsumoto, Japan.
³ Aichi Prefectural Chuo Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Okazaki, Japan.
⁴ The United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, Gifu, Japan.
⁵ National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, NARO, Tsukuba, Japan.

Abstract

Histophilus somni, a member of the Pasteurellaceae family, causes various diseases, including thrombotic meningoencephalitis and respiratory diseases. Here, 166 isolates recovered from Japanese cattle with various diseases between the late 1970s and the 2010s were subjected to susceptibility testing against 14 antimicrobials (ampicillin, amoxicillin, cefazolin, ceftiofur, kanamycin, streptomycin, nalidixic acid, enrofloxacin, danofloxacin, florfenicol, erythromycin, tylosin, oxytetracycline, and fosfomycin). The proportions of antimicrobial-resistant/intermediate isolates were low in the total isolates, with resistance rates ranging from 0% for ceftiofur and florfenicol to 13.2% for ampicillin. However, relatively high minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and resistance/intermediate rates were observed in the isolates from cattle with respiratory diseases; i.e., 21/53 isolates (39.6%) showed resistance or intermediate to one or more antimicrobials for treatment of respiratory diseases, and the resistance/intermediate rates to oxytetracycline, kanamycin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, nalidixic acid, and danofloxacin were 28.3, 24.5, 24.5, 13.2, 1.9, and 1.9%, respectively. Isolates with high MICs tended to possess antimicrobial resistance genes, which may confer antimicrobial resistance phenotypes. In particular, all isolates with MICs of ampicillin/amoxicillin, kanamycin, and oxytetracycline ≥2 μg/mL, ≥512 μg/mL, and ≥4 μg/mL possessed bla _{ROB - 1}, aphA-1, and tetH/tetR, respectively, whereas isolates whose MICs were lower than the above-mentioned values did not possess these resistance genes. These results suggest that the resistance genes detected in this study are primarily responsible for the reduced susceptibility of H. somni strains to these antimicrobials. As integrative and conjugative element (ICEs)-associated genes were detected only in genetically related isolates possessing antimicrobial resistance genes, ICEs may play an important role in the spread of resistance genes in some genetic groups of H. somni strains.

Keywords: Histophilus somni; antimicrobial resistance; antimicrobial resistance genes; bovine respiratory disease; integrative and conjugative elements.