Epidemiology, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae in Clinical Bovine Mastitis in Tunisia

Abstract

Bovine mastitis is a major disease in dairy cattle that causes high economic losses annually. Staphylococci, streptococci, and coliforms are among the major pathogens responsible for such infections. While data on bovine mastitis are numerous in Europe where the efficacy of farm management was monitored, those are scarce in African countries. In this study, we reported the occurrence of Escherichia coli (118/372, 31.7%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (77/372, 20.7%), two environmental pathogens known to cause bovine mastitis. Resistance phenotypes were frequently identified for tetracycline (E. coli, 46.6%/K. pneumoniae, 20.8%), sulfonamides-trimethoprim (17.8%/11.7%), gentamicin (19.5%/14.3%), and enrofloxacin (11.0%/6.5%). No carbapenem-resistant isolate was detected. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) were detected on selective medium in three E. coli and six K. pneumoniae, all carrying the bla gene. The K. pneumoniae belonged to two highly uncommon sequence types (ST471 and ST1083), while E. coli clustered in the ST167/617 clones, which have been widely reported in humans, animals, and the environment. These data point out the necessity to improve farm management in Tunisia to reduce the occurrence of coliform-induced mastitis and to avoid the dissemination in this sector of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae, which are of public health concern.

Molecular Characterization of an IncFIIk Plasmid Co-harboring blaIMP–26 and tet(A) Variant in a Clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolate

“…The tet (A) variant showed a mutation profile of I5R, V55M, I75V, T84A, S201A, F202S, and V203F compared with tet (A) (X00006) ( Waters et al, 1983 ) and exhibited 100% identity with that in our previous study ( Yao et al, 2018 ). Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) showed that K. pneumonia KP-1572 belonged to uncommon sequence type ST1083, which was reported in carbapenem - resistant K. pneumonia isolated from clinical bovine mastitis in Tunisia ( Saidani et al, 2018 ).…”

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae in cattle production – a threat around the world

“…South Africa (CTX-M), Madagascar (CTX-M-15), Nigeria (CTX-M and ND-ESBL), Tanzania (CTX-M-15) and Tunisia (CTX-M-15) also presented reports of E-ESBL in cattle. The reports were E. coli, Klebsiella sp, Salmonella sp, P. mirabilis, P. vulgaris, Providencia sp e Shigella spp (Gay et al, 2018;Iweriebor et al, 2015;Ogefere et al, 2017;Olowe et al, 2015;Saidani et al, 2018;Seni et al, 2016). In all countries the origin was faecal (except Tunisia, with mastitis also).…”

“…In Africa, only 6 countries presented reports of E-ESBL in cattle. They were Egypt, Madagascar, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Tunisia (Braun et al, 2016;Gay et al, 2018;Iweriebor et al, 2015;Mkala and Azizi, 2017;Olowe et al, 2015;Saidani et al, 2018;Seni et al, 2016). There are not numerous nor descriptive reports on this continent.…”

<p>Genomic Epidemiology of an Outbreak of <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae</em> ST471 Producing Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamases in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit</p>

“…ST471 is a highly uncommon ST, which has only been reported in one human case in Spain and clinical bovine mastitis in Tunisia. 30 The Tunisian study pointed out the necessity to improve farm management to avoid the dissemination in this sector of ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae. It is worth noting that the outbreak reported here occurred in Chifeng City, which belongs to Inner Mongolia, the largest pastoral area in China.…”