AUTHOR=Singleton David A. , Pongchaikul Pisut , Smith Shirley , Bengtsson Rebecca J. , Baker Kate , Timofte Dorina , Steen Stephen , Jones Matthew , Roberts Larry , Sánchez-Vizcaíno Fernando , Dawson Susan , Noble P.-J. M. , Radford Alan D. , Pinchbeck Gina L. , Williams Nicola J. 

TITLE=Temporal, Spatial, and Genomic Analyses of Enterobacteriaceae Clinical Antimicrobial Resistance in Companion Animals Reveals Phenotypes and Genotypes of One Health Concern

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.700698

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.700698

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a globally important one health threat. The impact of resistant infections on companion animals, and the potential public health implications of such infections, has not been widely explored, largely due to an absence of structured population-level data.</p></sec><sec><title>Objectives</title><p>We aimed to efficiently capture and repurpose antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) results data from several veterinary diagnostic laboratories (VDLs) across the United Kingdom to facilitate national companion animal clinical AMR surveillance. We also sought to harness and genotypically characterize isolates of potential AMR importance from these laboratories.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>We summarized AST results for 29,330 canine and 8,279 feline <italic>Enterobacteriaceae</italic> isolates originating from companion animal clinical practice, performed between April 2016 and July 2018 from four VDLs, with submissions from 2,237 United Kingdom veterinary practice sites.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p><italic>Escherichia coli</italic> (<italic>E. coli</italic>) was the most commonly isolated <italic>Enterobacteriaceae</italic> in dogs (69.4% of AST results, 95% confidence interval, CI, 68.7–70.0) and cats (90.5%, CI 89.8–91.3). Multi-drug resistance was reported in 14.1% (CI 13.5–14.8) of canine and 12.0% (CI 11.1–12.9) of feline <italic>E. coli</italic> isolates. Referral practices were associated with increased <italic>E. coli</italic> 3rd generation ≤ cephalosporin resistance odds (dogs: odds ratio 2.0, CI 1.2–3.4). We selected 95 <italic>E. coli</italic> isolates for whole genome analyses, of which seven belonged to sequence type 131, also carrying the plasmid-associated extended spectrum β-lactamase gene <italic>bla</italic><sub>CTX–M–</sub><sub>15</sub>. The plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene <italic>mcr-9</italic> was also identified for the first time in companion animals.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>Linking clinical AMR data with genotypic characterization represents an efficient means of identifying important resistance trends in companion animals on a national scale.</p></sec>