Extra-Intestinal Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Meat
- Authors: Giorgia Caruso, Anna Giammanco, Cinzia Cardamone, Giuseppa Oliveri, Chiara Mascarella, Giuseppina Capra, Teresa Fasciana.
- Publication year: 2018
- Type: Articolo in rivista (Articolo in rivista)
- OA Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10447/321246
Abstract
Extra-intestinalE.coliareemergingasaglobalthreatduetotheirdiffusionasopportunisticpathogensand,aboveall,totheirwide setofantibioticresistancedeterminants.Therearestillmanygapsinourknowledgeoftheiroriginandspreadpathways,although food animalshavebeenadjudicatedvehiclesfor passingmult-drugresistantbacteriatohumans.Thisstudyanalyzed 46samples of meat purchasedfrom retail stores in Palermo in order toobtain quinolone-resistant E. coli isolates. Strains were screenedfor their phylogeneticgroups, ST131-associatedsingle nucleotidepolymorphisms (SNPs),andthentypedbyERIC-PCR. Theirsetof virulencefactors,namely,kpsMII,papA,sfaS,focG,iutA,papC,hlyD,andafagenes,wereinvestigatedandtheirfluoroquinoloneresistancedeterminantsevaluated.Thedataobtainedshowadramaticallyhighprevalenceofmultidrugresistancepatternsinthe Palermoarea,with28%oftheisolateshavingvirulencefactorgenestypicalofExPEC strains.NoB2grouporST131 strainswere detected.Moreover,20%ofourisolatesshowedpositivitytoalltheplasmid-mediatedquinoloneresistance(PMQR)determinants, showingapotentialtotransferthesegenesamongotherbacteria.Therefore,thesedataunderlinethepossibilitythatfoodanimals and,specifically,poultryinparticularmaybeasignificantsourceofresistantbacterialstrains,posingapotentialzoonoticrisk.