Clonal relationship between human and avian ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli isolates in North-Eastern Algeria

• Published in: European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 2016-02, Vol.35 (2), p.227-234
• Main Authors: Agabou, A., Lezzar, N., Ouchenane, Z., Khemissi, S., Satta, D., Sotto, A., Lavigne, J.-P., Pantel, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algeria; Animals; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Bacteria; beta-Lactamases - genetics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Chickens; Chickens - microbiology; Ciprofloxacin - pharmacology; Clinical medicine; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial - genetics; E coli; Epidemiology; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - drug effects; Escherichia coli - isolation & purification; Escherichia coli Infections - microbiology; Farmers; Farms; Genes; Human health and pathology; Humans; Infectious diseases; Internal Medicine; Life Sciences; Medical Microbiology; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Microbiology and Parasitology; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Original Article; Poultry; Poultry farming; Symbiosis
• ISSN: 0934-9723; 1435-4373
• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-015-2534-3

The objectives of this study were to determine rates, patterns, and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, and to assess connections between chicken commensal, human commensal, and pathogenic ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli isolates. All E. coli isolates collected from chickens, their farmers, and patients in the Constantine region (North-east Algeria) were analyzed for bla and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) gene contents, phylogroups, Rep-PCR profiles, and multilocus sequence types. A high prevalence of resistance to fluoroquinolones (51.4 % to ciprofloxacin) was recorded in avian isolates. Of these, 22.2 % carried the aac(6’)-Ib-cr gene, whereas lower resistance levels to these antibiotics were recorded in chicken farmers’ isolates. None of the commensal isolates harbored the qnr, qepA , or oqxAB genes. One human pathogenic isolate was ertapenem-resistant and harbored the bla OXA-48 gene, 84 showed an extended-spectrum β-lactamase phenotype, with bla CTX-M-15 gene prevalent in 87.2 % of them. Seventy isolates were resistant to fluoroquinolones, with aac(6’)-Ib-cr present in 72.8 %, qnrB in 5.7 %, and qnrS in 10 %. Three Rep-PCR profiles were common to chicken commensal and human pathogenic isolates (phylogroups D and B1; ST21, ST48, and ST471 respectively); one was found in both chicken and chicken-farmer commensal strains (D; ST108), while another profile was identified in a chicken-farmer commensal strain and a human pathogenic one (B1; ST19). These findings suggest clonal and epidemiologic links between chicken and human ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli isolates and the important role that poultry may play in the epidemiology of human E. coli infections in the Constantine region.