Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in relation to virulence genes and phylogenetic origins among urogenital Escherichia coli isolates from dogs and cats in Japan

Abstract

Objective: To assess the status of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), identify extraintestinal virulence factors (VFs) and phylogenetic origins, and analyze relationships among these traits in extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) isolates from companion animals.

Sample: 104 E coli isolates obtained from urine or genital swab samples collected between 2003 and 2010 from 85 dogs and 19 cats with urogenital infections in Japan.

Procedures: Antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates was determined by use of the agar dilution method; a multiplex PCR assay was used for VF gene detection and phylogenetic group assessment. Genetic diversity was evaluated via randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis.

Results: Of the 104 isolates, 45 (43.3%) were resistant to > 2 antimicrobials. Phylogenetically, 64 (61.5%), 22 (21.2%), 13 (12.5%), and 5 (4.8%) isolates belonged to groups B2, D, B1, and A, respectively. Compared with other groups, group B2 isolates were less resistant to all tested antimicrobials and carried the pap, hly, and cnf genes with higher frequency and the aer gene with lower frequency. The aer gene was directly associated and the pap, sfa, hly, and cnf genes were inversely associated with AMR. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis revealed 3 major clusters, comprised mainly of group B1, B2, and D isolates; 2 subclusters of group B2 isolates had different VF and AMR status. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE; Prevalences of multidrug resistance and human-like phylogenetic origins among ExPEC isolates from companion animals in Japan were high. It is suggested that VFs, phylogenetic origins, and genetic diversity are significantly associated with AMR in ExPEC.