First isolation of atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli from geese (Anser anser domestica) and first description of atypical EPEC from turkeys and pigeons in Hungary

Abstract

Background Escherichia coli is a bacterial species widely distributed among mammals and avian species, and also a member of the normal intestinal microbiota. However, some E. coli strains of different pathotypes can cause disease in both humans and animals. Atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC) can infect both animals and humans or influence the severity of other ongoing infections. Results In the present study, a total of 332 samples were collected from ducks, geese, turkeys, chickens, and pigeons from the Hungarian Veterinary Diagnostic Directorate, two slaughterhouses, two pigeon keepers and one backyard chicken farm. E. coli was isolated and verified from 319 samples. The isolates were screened by PCR for diarrheagenic E. coli pathotypes. Altogether seven atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC) strains were identified: two from four-week-old dead turkeys, two from force-fed geese, and three from pigeons. No further pathotypes were identified in the collection. The atypical EPEC strains were classified phylogenetically to B1, B2, and F, and four out of the seven aEPEC isolates proved to be multidrug resistant. Serotypes of aEPEC strains were uniform collected from same farms and showed diversity between their origins with O76, O145, O109 serogroups. Conclusions This is the first report in the literature about aEPEC in goose (Anser anser domestica). Furthermore, this is the first isolation of aEPEC from turkeys and pigeons in Hungary. The uneven distribution of aEPEC in different age groups of poultry suggests that aEPEC disappears with growing up, but stress (e.g.: force-feeding) and concurrent diseases might promote its reappearance in the intestine.

Emergence and Genomic Features of a mcr-1 Escherichia coli from Duck in Hungary

“…Overall, 479 E. coli strains were isolated from 483 caecal/cloacal samples representing five species of poultry from 34 farms and four slaughterhouses (Table 1) [13,14]. Remarkably, the mcr-1 gene was only detected in one E. coli strain by PCR, and its presence was confirmed using Sanger sequencing.…”

“…Tested E. coli strains have been isolated from previously reported samples (n = 483), collected from slaughterhouses (chicken, turkey, duck and goose) and small-scale farms (chicken and pigeon), but samples provided by the National Diagnostic Directorate (Nébih-ÁDI, Budapest, Hungary) between 2016 and 2020 were also included [13,14]. Caecum and culled animal carcasses in slaughterhouses and caecum in Nébih-ÁDI or cloacal swab tampons in small-scale farms (from live birds) were used for the isolation of E. coli strains.…”

“…For the detection of the mcr-1 gene, DNA was extracted from an overnight culture of the aforementioned E. coli strains by boiling [14]. Then, the templates were used for PCR assay which was prepared from DreamTaq polymerase (1.25 U; Thermo-Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA), DreamTaq green buffer (5 µL; Thermo-Scientific), dNTP (0.2 mM each; Thermo-Scientific), mcr-1 primer pair (CLR5F: 5 -CGGTCAGTCCGTTTGTTC and CLR5R: 5 -CTTGGTCGGTCTGTAGGG; 0.5 µM each; Merck Life Science, Burlington, MA, USA) and bidistilled water in 25 µL final volume [8].…”

Isolation and identification of specific Enterococcus faecalis phage C-3 and G21-7 against Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli and its application to one-day-old geese

“…In recent years, with the moderate growth in demand for goose and duck meat in Asia, countries such as Hungary and China, which are major exporters of these two meats, are also facing challenges in the prevention and control of APEC in the goose industry 1 . Studies have shown that APEC isolates from Hungarian geese are mainly of 1 https://euromeatnews.com/ Article-The-global-duck-and-goose-meat-consumption-will-grow-to-8million-tonnes/3267 the O145 serogroup and are resistant to amoxicillin, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin and other drugs (Adorján et al, 2021); APEC geese in Henan, China are resistant to 5 to 12 levels of MDR (Zhang et al, 2023). In addition, a Chinese study found that goose-derived APEC is resistant to polymyxin and carries the mcr-1 gene, which is particularly similar to APEC strains derived from humans and birds (Hu Z. et al, 2022).…”