Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of Escherichia coli isolated from mollusks in Brazil and the United States

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the serogroups, antimicrobial resistance and genetic diversity of Escherichia coli isolates from samples of bivalve mollusks collected along Santa Catarina coast, Brazil, and from the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA. One hundred forty‐one E. coli isolates were characterized for serogroups with 181 specific O antisera and antimicrobial susceptibility using the disk diffusion method. The genetic diversity was assessed using pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The results showed that among the isolates, 19.9% were classified as multi‐drug resistant (MDR) and resistance was most frequently observed to cephalothin, nitrofurantoin, and ampicillin. The predominant serogroups were O6, O8, and O38. Some serogroups were recognized as pathogenic E. coli . PFGE dendrograms indicated extensive genetic diversity among the isolates. Although characteristics of the E. coli isolates were highly variable, it is important to note that E. coli belonging to pathogenic serogroups and MDR isolates are present in mollusks of both study areas. This is the first report on the phenotypic and genotypic characterization of E. coli from mollusks from Santa Catarina and the Chesapeake Bay that should encourage studies focusing on comparison of isolates across countries.

Hygiene conditions of mussels Perna perna captured in Niterói, RJ, Brazil: thermal intervention and microbiological evaluation

“…Oliveira ( 2016) isolated E. coli strains from mussels collected in Santos and found a similar percentage (20%) of resistance to norfloxacin. Miotto et al (2019) reported 96% of susceptibility to norfloxacin in bivalves cultivated in Santa Catarina, higher than in the present study where 75% of E. coli strains were susceptible to the antimicrobial.…”

“…There was also resistance of 33.33% of the strains to nitrofurantoin, higher than that of Miotto et al (2019) who found 12% of resistant strains.…”

A systematic review and meta-analysis on antimicrobial resistance in marine bivalves

“…Indeed, E . coli isolates resistant to third/fourth/fifth generation cephalosporins were recovered from bivalves collected from the environment ( Al-Sarawi et al, 2018 ; Miotto et al, 2019 ; Divya et al, 2020 ; Jeong et al, 2021 ), moreover from bivalve molluscan shellfish purchased at the market ( Yu et al, 2020 ). In addition, ESBL producing E .…”

“…Several studies have reported different antibiotic resistance patterns in isolates of different bacterial species (pathogenic or non-pathogenic to humans, autochthonous/allochthonous of the marine environment) recovered from bivalves throughout the world ( Vignaroli et al, 2016 ; Grevskott et al, 2017 ; Mani et al, 2018 ; Lozano-Leon et al, 2019 ; Miotto et al, 2019 ; Parthasarathy et al, 2021 ). Nevertheless, a comprehensive systematic review on the status of AMR to the main antibiotic classes in bacterial isolates cultured from bivalves is not available.…”

Prevalence of Cefepime-Resistant Escherichia coli in Iran: A Meta-Analysis (2007-2016)

“…The prevalence of cefepime-resistant E. coli was 1% in Brazil (33). In the African regions, the prevalence of cefepime resistant E. coli was 8.3% in Ghana and 64.5% in Bamako (34).…”