Low-Level Antimicrobials in the Medicinal Leech Select for Resistant Pathogens That Spread to Patients

Fluoroquinolones (FQs) and ciprofloxacin (Cp) are important antimicrobials that pollute the environment in trace amounts. Although Cp has been recommended as prophylaxis for patients undergoing leech therapy to prevent infections by the leech gut symbiont , a puzzling rise in Cp-resistant (Cp ) infe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:mBio 2018-07, Vol.9 (4), p.e01328-18
Main Authors: Beka, Lidia, Fullmer, Matthew S, Colston, Sophie M, Nelson, Michael C, Talagrand-Reboul, Emilie, Walker, Paul, Ford, Bradley, Whitaker, Iain S, Lamy, Brigitte, Gogarten, Johann Peter, Graf, Joerg
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aeromonas
Aeromonas - drug effects
Aeromonas - genetics
Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology
antibiotic resistance
Bacteriology
ciprofloxacin
Ciprofloxacin - pharmacology
Disease Reservoirs - microbiology
DNA Gyrase - genetics
Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial
Fluoroquinolones - pharmacology
Gastrointestinal Microbiome - drug effects
genomics
Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections - microbiology
Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections - prevention & control
Hirudo medicinalis - microbiology
Human health and pathology
Humans
Infectious diseases
leech therapy
Leeching - adverse effects
Life Sciences
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Microbiology and Parasitology
microbiome
Mutation
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Summary:Fluoroquinolones (FQs) and ciprofloxacin (Cp) are important antimicrobials that pollute the environment in trace amounts. Although Cp has been recommended as prophylaxis for patients undergoing leech therapy to prevent infections by the leech gut symbiont , a puzzling rise in Cp-resistant (Cp ) infections has been reported. We report on the effects of subtherapeutic FQ concentrations on bacteria in an environmental reservoir, the medicinal leech, and describe the presence of multiple antibiotic resistance mutations and a gain-of-function resistance gene. We link the rise of Cp isolates to exposure of the leech microbiota to very low levels of Cp (0.01 to 0.04 µg/ml),
ISSN:2161-2129
2150-7511
DOI:10.1128/mBio.01328-18