High prevalence of blaCTX-M-1/IncI1/ST3 and blaCMY-2/IncI1/ST2 plasmids in healthy urban dogs in France

• Published in: Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy Vol. 58; no. 9; pp. 5358 - 5362
• Main Authors: Haenni, Marisa, Saras, Estelle, Métayer, Véronique, Médaille, Christine, Madec, Jean-Yves
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Microbiology 01.09.2014
• Subjects: Animals; Bacterial Proteins; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacteriology; beta-Lactamases; beta-Lactamases - genetics; Cephalosporinase - genetics; China; Dogs; Epidemiology and Surveillance; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli - isolation & purification; Escherichia coli Infections; Escherichia coli Infections - epidemiology; Humans; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Klebsiella pneumoniae - genetics; Klebsiella pneumoniae - isolation & purification; Life Sciences; Microbial Sensitivity Tests - methods; Microbiology and Parasitology; Paris; Plasmids; Plasmids - genetics; Plasmids - isolation & purification; Prevalence; Salmonella enterica; Salmonella enterica - genetics; Salmonella enterica - isolation & purification; China; Paris
• ISSN: 0066-4804; 1098-6596; 1098-6596
• DOI: 10.1128/AAC.02545-14

In the community, close contacts between humans and dogs may promote the transfer of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase/plasmidic AmpC cephalosporinase (ESBL/pAmpC) genes. Large-scale prevalence studies on ESBL/pAmpC carriage in dogs are rare, and data on ESBL/pAmpC plasmids are even more limited. Here, a considerable rate of 18.5% ESBL/pAmpC carriers was found among 368 unrelated healthy dogs in Paris, France. This prevalence is much higher than the one found in healthy humans in the same city (6%) but close to that recently reported in dogs in China (24.5%). All isolates were identified as Escherichia coli, except one Salmonella enterica and one Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate. The sequence type 131 (ST131) clone was rare (2/73 isolates). Interestingly, two plasmids (blaCTX-M-1/IncI1/ST3 and blaCMY-2/IncI1/ST2) were unexpectedly highly predominant, raising the question of their successful spread. Considering that CTX-M-1 was recently found to be equally as abundant as CTX-M-15 in healthy Parisian subjects, the question of dogs being a CTX-M-1 reservoir for humans is open. Such a high prevalence of the blaCMY-2/IncI1/ST2 plasmid may result from the use of cephalexin in veterinary medicine, as previously demonstrated experimentally. In all, our study points out healthy urban dogs as a potential source of ESBL/pAmpC genes that can further disseminate to the human community.