Prevalence and Phylotyping of Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli from Companion Animals attending Veterinary Practices in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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Companion animals are globally documented to harbour antibiotic-resistant E. coli . We investigated the prevalence and phylotyping of antibiotic-resistant E. coli from companion animals (dogs and cats) at selected veterinary practices in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. E. coli was isolated from rectal swab samples on Eosin methylene blue agar and confirmed using real-time PCR. Antibiotic susceptibility testing against 20 antibiotics was done using the Kirby-Bauer method. Selected antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs), conferring third-generation cephalosporins ( bla TEM , bla SHV , and bla CTX-M ), tetracycline ( tet A, and tet B), and tigecycline ( tet X/X2, tet X3, and tet X4) resistance, were detected using PCR and amplicon sequencing. Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus Polymerase Chain Reaction was used to determine the clonality of antibiotic-resistant E. coli . Three hundred and thirty E. coli (234 dog and 96 cat) isolates were obtained. Isolates were most resistant to tetracycline (dogs - 25.2%; cats - 22.4%) and least to amikacin and piperacillin-tazobactam (Dogs - 0.4%) and piperacillin-tazobactam and ceftazidime (cats - 1.0%). Thirty-five (10.6%) isolates were multidrug-resistant, displaying twenty-two different phenotypic patterns. The bla CTX-M-15 (8%) and tet A (24%) were the most prevalent resistance genes; bla SHV, tet X/X2, tet X3, and tet X4 were undetected. Clonality revealed 48 clusters using a 75% similarity cut-off, suggesting highly diverse E. coli circulating in Durban, South Africa, potentially no evidence of antibiotic-resistant E. coli transmission among these animals in Durban. Resistance of E. coli from companion animals to medically important antimicrobials for humans is of particular concern, requiring measures to control the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and ARGs between companion animals, veterinary practice personnel, and owners.