Extended-spectrum cephalosporin (ESC)-resistant
Enterobacteriaceae
is an increasingly important problem in both human and veterinary medicine. The aims of this study were to describe a comparative molecular characterization of
Enterobacteriaceae
carrying ESC resistance genes, encoding extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and AmpC, isolated from human stool samples, rectal swabs from companion animals, and swabs from the environment of veterinarian hospitals in South Korea, and to examine their possible dissemination and transmission. The ESC resistance genes were identified by PCR and sequencing. Isolates with the predominant ESC resistance genes were assessed for their genetic relatedness by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multi-locus sequence typing. A total of 195
Escherichia coli
and 41
Klebsiella pneumoniae
isolates that exhibited ESC resistance were recovered on CHROMagar ESBL from human, companion animal, and the veterinary hospital environmental samples. In companion animals, most of the ESC resistance genes were
bla
CMY–2–like
(26.4%), followed by
bla
CTX –M–55
(17.2%) and
bla
CTX–M–14
(16.1%), whereas
bla
CTX–M–15
(28.6%) was predominant in human samples. The epidemiological relatedness of isolates carrying ESC resistance genes, including 124
E. coli
and 23
K. pneumoniae
isolates carrying CMY-2-like, DHA-1-like, or/and CTX-M-type, were analyzed by PFGE. The pulsotypes of five
E. coli
isolates (three from dogs and two from humans) carrying
bla
CMY–2–like
, which were attributed to sequence type 405, from different veterinary clinics showed >85% similarity. Our results indicate direct transmission and dissemination of ESC-resistant
Enterobacteriaceae
between humans and companion animals.