Isolation of the human-associated bla CTX-M-15-harbouring Klebsiella pneumoniae ST307 from a tortoise in the UK

Abstract

The ST307 multidrug-resistant CTX-M-15-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae is an emerging pathogen, which has become disseminated worldwide in humans but is rarely reported from other reservoirs. We report the first isolation of K. pneumoniae from an animal in Europe and also from a reptile, a captive tortoise, whose death it probably caused. Detection of this clone from an animal adds to evidence of niche expansion in non-human environments, where it may amplify, recycle and become of greater public health concern.

Genomic and Functional Characterization of CTX-M-15-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae ST307 Isolated from Imported Leopard Tortoises in Germany

“…The first occurrence of ST307 K. pneumoniae from a reptile in Europe, namely the UK, was reported by Foster et al (2020). In 2019, K. pneumoniae strain BL714 was isolated from the lung tissue of an African spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata) deceased due to pneumonia [24]. The isolation of the CTX-M-15-producing K. pneumoniae ST307 from leopard tortoises imported from Ecuador to Germany presented in this study dates back to 2014.…”

“…All isolates with a maximum difference of 50 alleles were extracted from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database, and cgMLST allelic distances were used for the calculation of a minimum spanning tree as implemented in Ridom Seqsphere+ v9.0 [33,34]. Additionally, isolate BL714 (SRA ERS9590854), a CTX-M-15-producing K. pneumoniae ST307 strain that was isolated in 2019 from a tortoise in the UK, was included in the minimum spanning tree (Supplementary Table S1) [24]. For the determination of plasmids and AMR genes, PlasmidFinder 2.1 and ResFinder 4.4.2 were employed [35,36].…”

“…CTX-M-15-producing K. pneumoniae ST307 has often been isolated from humans worldwide and is increasingly found in various animal species as well [5,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. In Europe, it was first isolated from an African spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata) in the UK in 2019, followed by several reports on the isolation in other species, such as cats, dogs, horses, cattle, and birds [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Because the importation of live exotic companion animals is still at a high level, fundamental research on the potential risk posed by the dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria seems to be justified [25].…”

Antibiotic Resistance Coding Genes in Klebsiella pneumoniae from Clinical Cats in Bogor Indonesia

“…When Klebsiella pneumoniae enters an animal's circulatory system, it results in septicemia, which is exceedingly detrimental to its health (Lenchenko et al, 2020). Klebsiella pneumoniae has been linked to otitis (Foster et al, 2020), urogenital infections (Loncaric et al, 2020), pneumonia and acute upper respiratory tract infections (Brisse and Duijkeren, 2005).…”