Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Mar 6:12:571-578.
doi: 10.2147/IDR.S189884. eCollection 2019.

High rates of CTX-M group-1 extended-spectrum β-lactamases producing Escherichia coli from pets and their owners in Faisalabad, Pakistan

Ghazanfar Abbas  1 , Iahtasham Khan  2 , Mashkoor Mohsin  1 , Sajjad-Ur-Rahman  1 , Tayyaba Younas  1 , Shahzad Ali  3
Affiliations

High rates of CTX-M group-1 extended-spectrum β-lactamases producing Escherichia coli from pets and their owners in Faisalabad, Pakistan

Ghazanfar Abbas et al. Infect Drug Resist. .

Abstract

Purpose: Pet animals have been considered a potential carrier of clinically important multi-drug-resistant Escherichia coli. However, little is known about the role of pets as reservoirs of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli in Pakistan. This study was designed to determine the prevalence and genetic relatedness of ESBL-producing multidrug-resistant E. coli in pets, their owners, and veterinary professionals.

Methods: A total of 105 fecal samples were collected from dogs, cats, their owners, and veterinary professionals from veterinary clinics. Isolates of ESBL-producing E. coli were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The presence of bla CTX-M genes and CTX-M groups I and II in multidrug-resistant E. coli was detected using PCR. Clonal diversity was checked using BOX-PCR.

Results: Of the 105 fecal samples screened, 73 (69.5%) were found to contain ESBL-producing E. coli. The percentage of ESBL-producing E. coli isolates in dogs and dog owners was found to be 81.8% (18/22) and 59% (13/22), respectively. In cats, this percentage was 73.9% (17/23) and in cat owners, 56.5% (13/23). Furthermore, 80% (12/15) of E. coli isolates in veterinary professionals were ESBL producers. Of these 73 ESBL-producing E. coli isolates, 23 isolates exhibited a multidrug-resistant phenotype. The most prevalent multidrug-resistant pattern (17.4%) identified was resistant to ampicillin, cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, and nitrofurantoin. In the multidrug-resistant E. coli, bla CTX-M was identified as the most common ESBL-producing genotype (19/23), with bla CTX-M-1 dominating in all 19 isolates. Furthermore, BOX-PCR analysis exhibited genetically diverse clonal groups among isolates of the CTX-M-1 group.

Conclusion: Our results provide important baseline information on the potential burden of multidrug-resistant E. coli among companion animals in Pakistan. Further studies are needed to understand the drivers of antimicrobial resistance at human-animal-environmental intersections.

Keywords: ESBL-producing E. coli; antimicrobial resistance; multidrug resistance; one-health; pets; zoonosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Multidrug resistance phenotypes. Abbreviations: AMP, ampicillin; C, chloramphenicol; CIP, ciprofloxacin; CTX, cefotaxime; ETP, ertapenem; F, nitrofurantoin; TGC, tigecycline.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Genetic relationship between multidrug-resistant Escherichia. coli isolates. Notes: Dendrogram constructed using Bionumerics v 6.0 (Applied Maths) using Dice similarity coefficient. Isolates with a Dice similarity index ≥80% were considered to belong to the same clone.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cantón R, González-Alba JM, Galán JC. CTX-M enzymes: origin and diffusion. Front Microbiol. 2012;3:110. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chainier D, Barraud O, Masson G, et al. Integron digestive carriage in human and cattle: A “one health” cultivation-independent approach. Front Microbiol. 2017;1891:8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pomba C, Rantala M, Greko C, et al. Public health risk of antimicrobial resistance transfer from companion animals. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2016;72(4):957–968. - PubMed
    1. da Costa PM, Loureiro L, Matos AJF. Transfer of multidrug-resistant bacteria between intermingled ecological niches: the interface between humans, animals and the environment. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2013;10(1):278–294. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guenther S, Ewers C, Wieler LH. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases producing E. coli in wildlife, yet another form of environmental pollution? Front Microbiol. 2011;2:246. - PMC - PubMed