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. 2025 May;28(Suppl 1):27-43.
doi: 10.1007/s10123-023-00445-y. Epub 2023 Nov 23.

Traditional marketed meats as a reservoir of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli

Fernando Guibert  1 , Kathya Espinoza  1 , Clara Taboada-Blanco  2 , Carla A Alonso  3 , Rosario Oporto  1 , Angie K Castillo  1 , Beatriz Rojo-Bezares  2 , María López  2 , Yolanda Sáenz  2 , Maria J Pons  4 , Joaquim Ruiz  5
Affiliations

Traditional marketed meats as a reservoir of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli

Fernando Guibert et al. Int Microbiol. 2025 May.

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze Escherichia coli from marketed meat samples in Peru. Sixty-six E. coli isolates were recovered from 21 meat samples (14 chicken, 7 beef), and antimicrobial resistance levels and the presence of mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, as well as clonal relationships and phylogeny of colistin-resistant isolates, were established. High levels of antimicrobial resistance were detected, with 93.9% of isolates being multi-drug resistant (MDR) and 76.2% of samples possessing colistin-resistant E. coli; of these, 6 samples from 6 chicken samples presenting mcr-1-producer E. coli. Colistin-resistant isolates were classified into 22 clonal groups, while phylogroup A (15 isolates) was the most common. Extended-spectrum β-lactamase- and pAmpC-producing E. coli were found in 18 and 8 samples respectively, with blaCTX-M-55 (28 isolates; 16 samples) and blaCIT (8 isolates; 7 samples) being the most common of each type. Additionally, blaCTX-M-15, blaCTX-M-65, blaSHV-27, blaOXA-5/10-like, blaDHA, blaEBC and narrow-spectrum blaTEM were detected. In addition, 5 blaCTX-M remained unidentified, and no sought ESBL-encoding gene was detected in other 6 ESBL-producer isolates. The tetA, tetE and tetX genes were found in tigecycline-resistant isolates. This study highlights the presence of MDR E. coli in Peruvian food-chain. The high relevance of CTX-M-55, the dissemination through the food-chain of pAmpC, as well as the high frequency of unrelated colistin-resistant isolates is reported.

Keywords: mcr-1; CTX-M-55; Colistin resistance; Extended-spectrum β-lactamases; Food microbiology; pAmpC.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval: The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Universidad Científica del Sur (Code: 053-2019-PRO99). No data of the salespersons or retail stalls was collected, and only generic adscription of samples to local markets was recorded. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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