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Cagnoli G, Di Paolo A, Bertelloni F, Salvucci S, Buccioni A, Marzoni Fecia di Cossato M, Ebani VV. Occurrence of Antimicrobial-Resistant Enterococcus spp. in Healthy Chickens Never Exposed to Antimicrobial Agents in Central Italy. Antibiotics (Basel) 2024; 13:417. [PMID: 38786145 PMCID: PMC11117291 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics13050417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2024] [Revised: 04/23/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Enterococci are part of the natural flora of the gastrointestinal tract of mammals, including humans, birds and invertebrates. They can cause infection, mainly among hospitalized patients, as well as acquire and transfer antimicrobial resistance genes. The present study allowed the isolation of 98 Enterococcus (73.47% E. faecium, 23.47% E. faecalis, 3.06% E. avium) strains from 120-day-old healthy chickens that had never been treated with antimicrobials. Their antimicrobial resistance was evaluated by the agar disk diffusion method; high-level aminoglycoside (streptomycin and gentamicin) and vancomycin resistance were established using the microbroth dilution method. The highest percentages of resistant isolates were detected with quinupristin-dalfopristin (88.78%), rifampicin (64.29%), tetracyclines (45.92%), and enrofloxacin (41.84%). High percentages of susceptible strains were found with teicoplanin (100%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (97.96%), nitrofurantoin (94.90%), ampicillin (92.86%), chloramphenicol (90.82%), and linezolid (88.78%). About 60% of the strains were classified as MDR (multidrug-resistant). Moreover, PCR was carried out to investigate genes encoding for tetracyclines resistance determinants: tet(M), tet(L), tet(O), tet(K), and Int-Tn. Genes were detected in 68 (69.38%) strains: 36 were shown to be resistant with the agar disk diffusion method, while 28 were intermediate, and 2 were susceptible. The present study showed that chickens never treated with antimicrobials potentially harbor enterococci having phenotypic and genotypic characters of antimicrobial resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Cagnoli
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy; (G.C.); (A.D.P.); (F.B.); (S.S.); (M.M.F.d.C.)
| | - Alessia Di Paolo
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy; (G.C.); (A.D.P.); (F.B.); (S.S.); (M.M.F.d.C.)
| | - Fabrizio Bertelloni
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy; (G.C.); (A.D.P.); (F.B.); (S.S.); (M.M.F.d.C.)
- Interdepartmental Research Center “Nutraceuticals and Food for Health”, University of Pisa, Via Del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Sonia Salvucci
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy; (G.C.); (A.D.P.); (F.B.); (S.S.); (M.M.F.d.C.)
| | - Arianna Buccioni
- Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Piazzale Delle Cascine 18, 50144 Florence, Italy;
| | - Margherita Marzoni Fecia di Cossato
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy; (G.C.); (A.D.P.); (F.B.); (S.S.); (M.M.F.d.C.)
- Interdepartmental Research Center “Nutraceuticals and Food for Health”, University of Pisa, Via Del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Valentina Virginia Ebani
- Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy; (G.C.); (A.D.P.); (F.B.); (S.S.); (M.M.F.d.C.)
- Interdepartmental Research Center “Nutraceuticals and Food for Health”, University of Pisa, Via Del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
- Centre for Climate Change Impact, University of Pisa, Via Del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy
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Geissler M, Schröttner P, Oertel R, Dumke R. Enterococci, Van Gene-Carrying Enterococci, and Vancomycin Concentrations in the Influent of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in Southeast Germany. Microorganisms 2024; 12:149. [PMID: 38257976 PMCID: PMC10819932 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12010149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2023] [Revised: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Vancomycin-resistant (VR) Enterococcus spp. can be detected in high concentrations in wastewaters and pose a risk to public health. During a one-year study (September 2022-August 2023), 24 h composite raw wastewater samples (n = 192) of a municipal wastewater treatment plant were investigated for cultivable enterococci. After growth on Slanetz-Bartley agar (SBA), a mean concentration of 29,736 ± 9919 cfu/mL was calculated. Using MALDI-TOF MS to characterize randomly picked colonies (n = 576), the most common species were found to be Enterococcus faecium (72.6%), E. hirae (13.7%), and E. faecalis (8.0%). Parallel incubation of wastewater samples on SBA and VRESelect agar resulted in a mean rate of VR enterococci of 2.0 ± 1.5%. All the tested strains grown on the VRESelect agar (n = 172) were E. faecium and carried the vanA (54.6%) or vanB gene (45.4%) with limited sequence differences. In susceptibility experiments, these isolates showed a high-level resistance to vancomycin (>256 µg/mL). Concentration of vancomycin was determined in 93.7% of 112 wastewater samples (mean: 123.1 ± 64.0 ng/L) and varied between below 100 ng/L (the detection limit) and 246.6 ng/L. A correlation between the concentration of vancomycin and the rate of VR strains among the total enterococci could not be found. The combination of incubation of samples on SBA and a commercial vancomycin-containing agar applied in clinical microbiology with a multiplex PCR for detection of van genes is an easy-to-use tool to quantify and characterize VR Enterococcus spp. in water samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Geissler
- Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany; (M.G.)
| | - Percy Schröttner
- Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany; (M.G.)
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - Reinhard Oertel
- Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - Roger Dumke
- Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany; (M.G.)
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