Prevalence and Genomic Investigation of Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella Isolates from Companion Animals in Hangzhou, China

Abstract

Salmonella is a group of bacteria that constitutes the leading cause of diarrheal diseases, posing a great disease burden worldwide. There are numerous pathways for zoonotic Salmonella transmission to humans; however, the role of companion animals in spreading these bacteria is largely underestimated in China. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of Salmonella in pet dogs and cats in Hangzhou, China, and characterize the antimicrobial resistance profile and genetic features of these pet-derived pathogens. In total, 137 fecal samples of pets were collected from an animal hospital in Hangzhou in 2018. The prevalence of Salmonella was 5.8% (8/137) in pets, with 9.3% (5/54) of cats and 3.6% (3/83) of dogs being Salmonella positive. By whole-genome sequencing (WGS), in silico serotyping, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST), 26 pet-derived Salmonella isolates were identified as Salmonella Dublin (ST10, n = 22) and Salmonella Typhimurium (ST19, n = 4). All of the isolates were identified as being multidrug-resistant (MDR), by conducting antimicrobial susceptibility testing under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The antibiotics of the most prevalent resistance were streptomycin (100%), cotrimoxazole (100%), tetracycline (96.20%), and ceftriaxone (92.30%). Versatile antimicrobial-resistant genes were identified, including floR (phenicol-resistant gene), blaCTX-M-15, and blaCTX-M-55 (extended-spectrum beta-lactamase genes). A total of 11 incompatible (Inc) plasmids were identified, with IncA/C2, IncFII(S), and IncX1 being the most predominant among Salmonella Dublin, and IncFIB(S), IncFII(S), IncI1, and IncQ1 being the most prevailing among Salmonella Typhimurium. Our study applied WGS to characterize pet-derived Salmonella in China, showing the presence of MDR Salmonella in pet dogs and cats with a high diversity of ARGs and plasmids. These data indicate a necessity for the regular surveillance of pet-derived pathogens to mitigate zoonotic diseases.

Antimicrobial resistance and genomic characterization of Escherichia coli from pigs and chickens in Zhejiang, China

“…We can obtain the tested strains’ AMR and virulence genes by combining them with the antimicrobial sensitivity test (AST). It is helpful to better understand AMR’s development and transmission ( Teng et al, 2022 ). WGS has become an indispensable and reliable tool for revealing the AMR mechanism in global pathogen surveillance ( Boolchandani et al, 2019 ; Tang et al, 2021a ; Yang et al, 2022 ).…”

Antimicrobial resistance and genomic investigation of non-typhoidal Salmonella isolated from outpatients in Shaoxing city, China

“…The common resistance was observed against cefazolin (1st generation of cephalosporin), streptomycin (aminoglycoside), ampicillin (penecillins), the combination of ampicillin-sulbactam, doxycycline and tetracycline (tetracyclines), and levofloxacin (quinolones). The high resistance to these categories has becoming frequently observed in Salmonella isolates recovered from food, human, and animal samples ( 6 , 19 , 25 , 26 , 58 , 62 ). Moreover, we reported a high incidence of MDR among isolates (83.91%) which was higher than that found in Salmonella recovered from hospitalized patients in the Conghua district of Guangzhou, China (47.06%) ( 59 ), and from children with NTS infections in Chongqing, China (13.7%) ( 58 ).…”

Genomic Characterization of Antimicrobial-Resistant Salmonella enterica in Duck, Chicken, and Pig Farms and Retail Markets in Eastern China

“…After the completion of genome assembly, serotype prediction was performed with SISTR v1.0.2 ( 76 ) using default parameters. In addition, the virulence genes and AMR genes were predicted by using the Abricate 1.0.1 tool ( https://github.com/tseemann/abricate ), which combines data sets from ResFinder 4.1 ( https://cge.cbs.dtu.dk/services/ResFinder/ ; accessed 7 October 2021), with a similarity cutoff of 90% nucleotide identity and 90% minimum coverage ( 77 ), and the VFDB database (accessed 7 October 2021) with 70% minimum coverage and 50% nucleotide identity ( 78 ). In addition, plasmid types were detected using PlasmidFinder 2.1 ( https://cge.cbs.dtu.dk/services/PlasmidFinder/ ), with a cutoff of 90% nucleotide identity and 60% minimum coverage.…”