AUTHOR=Adorján András , Makrai László , Mag Tünde , Jánosi Szilárd , Könyves László , Tóth István 

TITLE=High Frequency of Multidrug-Resistant (MDR) Atypical Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (aEPEC) in Broilers in Hungary

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00511

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2020.00511

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Escherichia coli</italic> (EC) strains belong to several pathotypes capable of infecting both humans and animals. Some of them have zoonotic potential and can sporadically cause epidemic outbreaks. Our aim was to screen for the distribution of these pathotypes in broilers and their related products. Therefore, <italic>E. coli</italic> strains were isolated (<italic>n</italic> = 118) from poultry intestine (<italic>n</italic> = 57), carcass (<italic>n</italic> = 57), and wastewater (<italic>n</italic> = 4) samples from one slaughterhouse with own reared poultry source and the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) poultry <italic>E. coli</italic> collection (<italic>n</italic> = 170) from the year 2017 was also studied. All 288 <italic>E. coli</italic> strains were screened by PCR for pathotype-specific genes <italic>stx, eae, st-lt, aggR, ipaH</italic>, and for further EPEC-specific virulence genes (<italic>bfp, EAF, tir, perA, ler</italic>). Altogether 35 atypical enteropathogenic <italic>E. coli</italic> (aEPEC) strains from the slaughterhouse and 48 aEPEC strains from the NRL collection were found. Regarding the phylogenetic groups of aEPEC, all four main groups were represented but there was a shift toward the B2 group (25%) as compared with the non-EPEC isolates (3%). The aEPEC isolates belonged to serogroups O14, O108, and O45. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was abundant in aEPEC strains (80 out of 83 aEPEC) with a diverse resistance pattern (<italic>n</italic> = 56). Our results of this study indicate that the high frequency of aEPEC in broilers and on their carcass surface, with frequent MDR to several antibiotic groups, raises the possibility that these strains pose a zoonotic risk to humans.</p>