Evidence of Sharing of Klebsiella pneumoniae Strains between Healthy Companion Animals and Cohabiting Humans

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize the fecal colonization and sharing of Klebsiella pneumoniae strains between companion animals and humans living in close contact. Fecal samples were collected from 50 healthy participants (24 humans, 18 dogs, and 8 cats) belonging to 18 households. Samples were plated onto MacConkey agar (MCK) plates with and without cefotaxime or meropenem supplementation. Up to five K. pneumoniae colonies per participant were compared by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) after XbaI restriction. K. pneumoniae strains with unique pulse types from each participant were characterized for antimicrobial susceptibility, virulence genes, and multilocus sequence type (MLST). Fecal K. pneumoniae pulse types were compared to those of clinical K. pneumoniae strains from animal and human patients with urinary tract infections (n = 104). K. pneumoniae colonization was detected in nonsupplemented MCK in around 38% of dogs (n = 7) and humans (n = 9). K. pneumoniae strains isolated from dogs belonged to sequence type 17 (ST17), ST188, ST252, ST281, ST423, ST1093, ST1241, ST3398, and ST3399. None of the K. pneumoniae strains were multidrug resistant or hypervirulent. Two households included multiple colonized participants. Notably, two colonized dogs within household 15 (H15) shared a strain each (ST252 and ST1241) with one coliving human. One dog from H16 shared one PFGE-undistinguishable K. pneumoniae ST17 strain with two humans from different households; however, the antimicrobial susceptibility phenotypes of these three strains differed. Two main virulence genotypes were detected, namely fimH-1 mrkD ycfM entB kfu and fimH-1 mrkD ycfM entB kpn. These results highlight the potential role of dogs as a reservoir of K. pneumoniae to humans and vice versa. Furthermore, to our best knowledge, this is the first report of healthy humans and dogs sharing K. pneumoniae strains that were undistinguishable by PFGE/MLST.

Fecal Klebsiella pneumoniae Carriage Is Intermittent and of High Clonal Diversity

“…In our study, K. pneumoniae was found in 0.0–31.3% (mean 17.2%) of stool samples tested. This is lower than in previous studies with a colonization rate of 37.5% ( Marques et al, 2019 ) and 55.9% ( Huynh et al, 2020 ) but is in concordance with other studies reporting 4–10% colonization rates for test subjects ( Choby et al, 2020 ). In contrast to other studies, where an increased fecal carriage rate during the summer was reported ( Anderson et al, 2008 ), no such seasonal correlation could be observed in our study.…”

High Colonization Rate and Heterogeneity of ESBL- and Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae Isolated from Gull Feces in Lisbon, Portugal

“…By contrast, the K. pneumoniae ST17 background that has frequently been identified here is a clonal type frequently found among clinical isolates recovered from Portuguese patients [ 24 ]. This ST was also identified in other countries [ 37 ], and not only among hospitalized patients but also in healthy individuals and companion animals [ 38 ].…”

Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacterales Shedding by Dogs and Cats Hospitalized in an Emergency and Critical Care Department of a Veterinary Teaching Hospital

“…Colonization was also described worldwide, with rates ranging from 6% to 24% in different geographical regions and different cohorts [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Recent studies described co-carriage of ESBL producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) strains in humans and dogs of the same household [ 15 , 16 ]. These findings highlight the importance of investigating shedding rates and risk factors for shedding by dogs and cats in both veterinary and ‘one health’ perspectives.…”