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Prevalence, genotype and antimicrobial resistance of Clostridium difficile isolates from healthy pets in Eastern China.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a main cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in humans. Several studies have been performed to reveal the prevalence rate of C. difficile in cats and dogs. However, little is known about the epidemiology of C. difficile in healthy pets in China. This study aimed to assess the burden of C. difficile shedding by healthy dogs and cats in China. Furthermore, the genetic diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of the recovered isolates were determined. METHODS:A total of 175 faecal samples were collected from 146 healthy dogs and 29 cats. C. difficile strains were isolated and identified from the feces of these pets. The characterized C. difficile strains were typed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and the MICs of the isolates were determined against ampicillin, clindamycin, tetracycline, moxifloxacin, chloramphenicol, cefoxitin, metronidazole and vancomycin by the agar dilution method. RESULTS:Overall, 3 faecal samples (1.7%) were C. difficile culture positive. One sample (0.7%) from a dog was C. difficile culture positive, while two cats (7.0%) yielded positive cultures. The prevalence rate differed significantly between cats and dogs. These isolates were typed into 3 MLST genotypes and were susceptible to chloramphenicol, tetracycline, metronidazole and moxifloxacin and resistant to ampicillin, clindamycin and cefoxitin. Notably, one strain, D141-1, which was resistant to three kinds of antibiotics and carried toxin genes, was recovered in the faeces of a healthy dog. CONCLUSION:Our results suggest that common pets may be a source of pathogenic C. difficile, indicating that household transmission of C. difficile from pets to humans can not be excluded.

SUBMITTER: Wei Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6330442 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The prevalence of Campylobacter spp.in pets is a potential concern for human health. However, little is known about the pet-related Campylobacter spp. in China. A total of 325 fecal samples were collected from dogs, cats, and pet foxes. Campylobacter spp. were isolated by culture, and MALDI-TOF MS was used to identify 110 Campylobacter spp. isolates in total. C. upsaliensis (30.2%, 98/325), C. helveticus (2.5%, 8/325), and C. jejuni (1.2%, 4/325) were the three found species. In dogs and cats, the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was 35.0% and 30.1%, respectively. A panel of 11 antimicrobials was used to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility by the agar dilution method. Among C. upsaliensis isolates, ciprofloxacin had the highest rate of resistance (94.9%), followed by nalidixic acid (77.6%) and streptomycin (60.2%). Multidrug resistance (MDR) was found in 55.1% (54/98) of the C. upsaliensis isolates. Moreover, 100 isolates, including 88 C. upsaliensis, 8 C. helveticus, and 4 C. jejuni, had their whole genomes sequenced. By blasting the sequence against the VFDB database, virulence factors were identified. In total, 100% of C. upsaliensis isolates carried the cadF, porA, pebA, cdtA, cdtB, and cdtC genes. The flaA gene was present in only 13.6% (12/88) of the isolates, while the flaB gene was absent. By analyzing the sequence against the CARD database, we found that 89.8% (79/88) of C. upsaliensis isolates had antibiotic target alteration in the gyrA gene conferring resistance to fluoroquinolone, 36.4% (32/88) had the aminoglycoside resistance gene, and 19.3% (17/88) had the tetracycline resistance gene. The phylogenetic analysis using the K-mer tree method obtained two major clades among the C. upsaliensis isolates. All eight isolates in subclade 1 possessed the gyrA gene mutation, the aminoglycoside and tetracycline resistance genes, and were phenotypically resistant to six classes of antimicrobials. It has been established that pets are a significant source of Campylobacter spp. strains and a reservoir for them. This study is the first to have documented the presence of Campylobacter spp. in pets in Shenzhen, China. In this study, C. upsaliensis of subclade 1 required additional attention due to its broad MDR phenotype and relatively high flaA gene prevalence.

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Prevalence, genotype and antimicrobial resistance of Clostridium difficile isolates from healthy pets in Eastern China.

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