High β-Lactam and Quinolone Resistance of Enterobacteriaceae from the Respiratory Tract of Sheep and Goat with Respiratory Disease

Abstract

During the last decade’s increase of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animals, animal-human transmission has become a major threat. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the genetic basis of AMR in Gram-negative bacteria recovered from sheep and goats with respiratory disease. Nasal and ocular swabs were collected from 69 diseased animals, and 76 Gram-negative bacterial isolates were identified from 59 animals. All isolates were checked phenotypically for resistance and genotypically for different resistance mechanisms, including β-lactam, quinolone, and aminoglycoside resistance. Our results demonstrated that 9.2% (95% CI 4.5–17.8%) of the isolates were multidrug-resistant, with high resistance rates to β-lactams and quinolones, and 11.8% (95% CI 6.4–21%) and 6.6% (95% CI 2.8–14.5%) of the isolates were phenotypically positive for AmpC and ESBL, respectively. Genotypically, blaTEM was the most identified β-lactamase encoding gene in 29% (95% CI 20–40%) of the isolates, followed by blaSHV (14.5%, 95% CI 8.3–24.1%) and blaCTX-M (4%, 95% CI 1.4–11%). Furthermore, 7.9% (95% CI 3.7–16.2%) of the isolates harbored plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance gene qnrS. Our study revealed for the first time to our knowledge high β-lactam and quinolone resistance associated with the bacteria recovered from sheep and one goat with respiratory disease. Furthermore, different antimicrobial resistant determinants were identified for the first time from animals in Africa, such as blaLEN-13/55, blaTEM-176 and blaTEM-198/214. This study highlights the potential role of sheep and goats in disseminating AMR determinants and/or resistant bacteria to humans. The study regenerates interest for the development of a One Health approach to combat this formidable problem.

Case report of enterobacter hormaechei in sheep with respiratory disease and death

“…E. hormaechei has previously been isolated from blood, bile, pleural fluid, urine, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and bone marrow samples collected from human patients, and has been found to be associated with respiratory disease, kidney disease, heart disease, meningitis, anemia, and septic shock in patients [ 1 , 3 , 22 – 28 ]. In domestic animals, infections in foxes, piglets, calves, pets, goats and sheep have been reported [ 4 – 8 ]. However, pathological change of E. hormaechei causing disease in sheep or goats was not recorded in previous report.…”

“…These sheep might have been exposed to E. hormaechei contaminated grass, soil, or water. Another possibility is that E. hormaechei as well as other members of Enterobacteriaceae are normal habitants of the respiratory tract of animals [ 8 ], and could be an opportunistic pathogenic bacteria combining to some unknown reason, such as summer fever, which cause immunocompromise of the three sheep, at last led to the fatal infections. The Phylogenetic analysis showed strains from sheep in this work were most closely related to the strains isolated from calf in our previous work [ 6 ], indicated the potential of same origin; and then secondly related to the strains isolated from soil and human, suggested the origin of these strains isolated from sheep and calves should be human or soil.…”

“…Detection of the genes responsible for β-lactam resistance showed that all three isolates from sheep harbor bla SHV and bla KPC,. bla SHV was also found in Enterobacteriaceae from the respiratory tract of sheep and goat with respiratory disease, but not bla KPC [ 8 ]. bla KPC was not detected in strains isolated from pets [ 7 ], this the first report of bla KPC identification in animals in China, but bla KPC had been detected in strains isolated from human in China [ 31 ], this suggested that the possibility route of transmission of resistance plasmid should be from strains in human to strains in animals, and more public health and safety measures should be adopted to reduce this threat.…”

“…In animals, E. hormaechei infections have been found in a dead fox with uterine infection [ 4 ], piglets with diarrhea [ 5 ], calves with respiratory disease [ 6 ], pets with respiratory disease complex [ 7 ]. Recently in 2021, E. hormaechei had been isolated from nasal swabs and ocular swabs collected from goats and sheep [ 8 ], however, there is no documentation of pathological change of E. hormaechei causing disease in sheep. In this report, E. hormaechei strains were isolated from lung samples of three sheep that died of respiratory disease.…”

Review on Bovine Tuberculosis: An Emerging Disease Associated with Multidrug-Resistant Mycobacterium Species

“…The development and emergence of multidrug resistance in animals has gained worldwide attention owing to the possibility of pathogen transmission to humans [151][152][153][154]. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is caused by TB bacteria that are resistant to at least two most potent TB drugs including isoniazid (INH) and rifampin (RIF) which are used to treat all patients with TB disease (CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/tb/, accessed on 10 May 2022).…”