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
. 2025 Aug 30;49(5):295.
doi: 10.1007/s11259-025-10872-z.

Invasive whistling frogs (Eleutherodactylus johnstonei) act as a reservoir for antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in Latin America's most populous city

Gabrielli S Abreu  1 , Gabriel S Dos Santos  2 , Denise B Nogueira  1 , Gissandra F Braz  1 , Rafael R Soares  1 , Nathália S Guimarães  1 , Gisele O de Souza  1 , Cinthia A Brasileiro  3 , José S Ferreira Neto  1 , Marcos B Heinemann  1
Affiliations

Invasive whistling frogs (Eleutherodactylus johnstonei) act as a reservoir for antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in Latin America's most populous city

Gabrielli S Abreu et al. Vet Res Commun. .

Abstract

Invasive species represent a significant threat to ecological balance and the maintenance of native populations. Besides, these have been associated with the emergence of pathogens of public health importance, including multidrug-resistant bacteria. This study aimed to screen and describe the antimicrobial resistance profile of clinically important Enterobacteriaceae species isolated from whistling frogs (Eleutherodactylus johnstonei), an invasive anuran species in São Paulo, Brazil. Clinically relevant Enterobacteriaceae strains (n = 35) were isolated from oral and skin swabs of 19 whistling frogs and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and antimicrobial resistance encoding genes. Resistance to amoxicillin + clavulanate and cefoxitin were the most frequent (16.67%; 4/24), followed by cefotaxime (5.71%; 2/35), ceftriaxone (2.86%; 1/35), and tetracycline (2.86%; 1/35). Among the antimicrobial resistance genes screened, blaCTX-M group 8, blaTEM, and blaCMY were identified. The whole genome of the blaCTX-M group 8-positive E. coli strain was assessed and confirmed blaCTX-M-8 presence and phylogenetic analysis. Given the synanthropic behavior of whistling frogs, these amphibians may act as carriers of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria.

Keywords: AmpC; Antimicrobial resistance; ESBL; Invasive species; One health surveillance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical statement: The animal experiment protocol in this study was approved by theComitê de Ética no Uso de Animais of the Universiade Federal de São Paulo (CEUA/UNIFESP) n° 4853260324.

References

    1. Abarca JG, Vargas G, Zuniga I et al (2018) Assessment of bacterial communities associated with the skin of Costa Rican amphibians at La Selva biological station. Front Microbiol 9:2001. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.02001 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. CLSI (2025) M100-S25 performance standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing; Twenty-Fifth informational supplement an informational supplement for global application developed through the clinical. and Laboratory Standards Institute consensus process
    1. Dallenne C, da Costa A, Decré D et al (2010) Development of a set of multiplex PCR assays for the detection of genes encoding important β-lactamases in Enterobacteriaceae. J Antimicrob Chemother 65:490–495. https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkp498 - DOI - PubMed
    1. da Silva KC, Lincopan N (2012) Epidemiologia Das betalactamases de espectro estendido no brasil: impacto clínico e implicações Para o agronegócio. J Bras Patol Med Lab 48:91–99. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1676-24442012000200004 - DOI
    1. dos Santos GS, Sellera FP, Furlan JPR et al (2025) The ecological threat posed by invasive species as silent carriers of global priority bacteria to wildlife. One Health 20:101043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.onehlt.2025.101043 - DOI - PubMed - PMC

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources