Distribution and antimicrobial resistance profiles of bacterial species in stray cats, hospital-admitted cats, and veterinary staff in South Korea

Abstract

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is becoming increasingly important in both human and veterinary medicine. According to the One Health concept, an important step is to monitor the resistance patterns of pathogenic bacteria. In this study, the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and trends of bacteria isolated from stray cats, hospital-admitted cats, and veterinary staff in South Korea between 2017 and 2018 were investigated. Results: The minimum inhibitory concentrations of different antibiotics for Staphylococcus spp., Enterobacteriaceae, and Enterococcus spp. were determined to establish representatives of different antibiotic classes relevant for treatment or surveillance. For Coagulase-positive and Coagulase-negative Staphylococci, resistance to fluoroquinolones was below 13%, but resistance to ampicillin and penicillin was high (20-88%). A total of 9.5, 12.1, and 40.3% of staphylococcal isolates from stray cats, hospital-admitted cats, and veterinary staff, respectively, were confirmed to be mecA positive. For Enterobacteriaceae, resistance to carbapenems, fluoroquinolones, and 3rd generation cephalosporins was low (0-11.1%). The Enterococcus spp. isolates showed no resistance to vancomycin. The antimicrobial resistance rates of the Staphylococcus spp. and Enterobacteriaceae isolates from stray cats were usually lower than those of isolates from hospital-admitted cats and veterinary staff, but the Enterococcus spp. isolates revealed the opposite. Thus, the antimicrobial resistance varied across bacterial species according to the source from which they were isolated. Conclusions: Resistance to critically important compounds were low. However, the presence of antimicrobial resistance in cat isolates is of both public health and animal health concern.

Antimicrobial Resistance in Bacteria Isolated From Cats and Dogs From the Iberian Peninsula

“…The antimicrobial options for empirical therapy can be compromised in companion animals ( Prescott et al, 2002 ; Jung et al, 2020 ) basically due to: (1) the increased incidence in the last years of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria such as MDR Enterococcus spp., Enterobacter spp., P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae , and (2) the extended AMR to other antimicrobial families (i.e., aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, and carbapenems). Of note, the results obtained from pets of this study are similar to those reported in human hospitals in Spain ( ESTUDIO EPINE-EPPS, 2017 ).…”

“…Finally, the presence of Proteus isolates from dogs with imipenem CMI90 > 4 mg/L is highly suspicious for carbapenemasa production. To prevent the selection of BLEEs and carbapenem- resistance profiles in both human and animal medicine, is very important to implement the One Health approach, and monitor the resistance patterns of these pathogenic bacteria in companion animals ( ESTUDIO EPINE-EPPS, 2017 ; Nigg et al, 2019 ; Jung et al, 2020 ).…”

Characterization of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing and AmpC β-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacterales Isolated from Companion Animals in Korea

“…Sampling, isolation, identification, antimicrobial susceptibility tests, and phenotypic characterization of Enterobacterales were previously studied [ 24 , 25 ]. In total, 91 Enterobacterales isolates carrying ESC resistance genes (51 E. coli , 17 K. pneumoniae , five K. oxytoca , four S. marcescens , seven S. liquefaciens , and seven E. cloacae ) were collected from companion animals (56 hospital-admitted dogs, 23 stray dogs, 11 hospital-admitted cats, and one stray cat, Table 5 ).…”

“…PCR amplification of entire bla CTX-M , bla TEM , and bla SHV genes was performed as previously described [ 24 , 25 ]. For bla CTX-M -positive isolates, PCR and DNA sequencing were carried out for CTX-M-subtype detection.…”

The Direct Semi-Quantitative Detection of 18 Pathogens and Simultaneous Screening for Nine Resistance Genes in Clinical Urine Samples by a High-Throughput Multiplex Genetic Detection System

“…For carbapenemase gene, the most prevalent carbapenemase gene were bla KPC and bla NDM , accounted for 51.6% and 35.7%, respectively in all carbapenemresistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) strains isolated from 2016 to 2018 across China (Han et al, 2020). Since 2000, CTX-M blactamases have been identified as the most widespread ESBL (Jung et al, 2020). The mecA and mecC were both included in UTI-HMGS for the surveillance of MRSA, which is a leading cause of deadly hospital-acquired infections (Lamontagne Boulet et al, 2018).…”