h Sixty-five CTX-M-2/15/14 extended-spectrum--lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae were isolated from 258,888 mastitic milk samples from Japanese dairy farms between 2007 and 2011. CTX-M-2-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and CTX-M-15-producing Escherichia coli were the predominant strains isolated. There was no predominant clonal type, and clonal diversity was found even in strains isolated from a single farm.
Since 2000, Escherichia coli and other Enterobacteriaceae species producing CTX-M-type extended-spectrum -lactamases (ESBLs) (CTX-M) have been commonly isolated from community-acquired extraintestinal infections in humans and their companion animals (1, 2, 3, 4), from food-producing animals (3,5,6,7,8), and from retail meats, including chicken, beef, and pork (3), worldwide. The CTX-M-type genes are assumed to have been transferred separately to plasmids, including complex class 1 integrons and transposons (9), from chromosomes of different Kluyvera species (i.e., Kluyvera ascorbata, K. georgiana, and K. cryocrescens) that live in water, soil, and human and animal intestinal tracts; therefore, CTX-M has been divided into five clusters (CTX-M-1, CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8, CTX-M-9, and CTX-M-25) from base sequence homology (1, 9). CTX-M confers resistance against penicillins, oxyimino-cephalosporins, and monobactams (1, 4). Recently, the CTX-M-15-producing E. coli ST131 (O25: H4) clone has emerged as a multidrug-resistant pandemic strain affecting humans worldwide (4).Bovine mastitis is the most common disease affecting dairy cattle (10). Both E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae often cause life-threatening clinical mastitis (5, 11). The incidence of bovine mastitis has been reported to be higher in Japan (30 to 35 cases per 100 cow-years at risk) (12) than in North America, Europe, and New Zealand (10 to 30 cases per 100 cow-years) (10). Only a few classes of antimicrobials are approved for the treatment of mastitis in Japan; however, large amounts of antimicrobials are used for mastitis treatment, creating selective pressure for drug-resistant organisms (13). In our previous report, we showed that Japanese dairy cattle might be a source of CTX-M-15/2/14-and CMY-2-producing Enterobacteriaceae (7). However, few studies have reported the prevalence of Enterobacteriaceae producing CTX-M in bovine mastitis (5). The aims of this study were to determine the genetic characteristics, antimicrobial susceptibility, and genetic relatedness of ESBL-and plasmid-mediated AmpC -lactamaseproducing Enterobacteriaceae isolated from bovine mastitis cases.Screening of ESBLs. Bacterial cultures were carried out using standard procedures on a total of milk samples from 258,888 quarters obtained from 176,808 cows affected by (mainly clinical) mastitis on 1,000 dairy farms in the Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, between February 2007 and April 2011 (14). Streptococcus spp. (mainly Streptococcus uberis) and Enterococcus spp., coagulase-negative staphylococci, Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, and Klebsiella spp. were the...