Antibiotic-resistant E-Coli - incl. ESBL - found in waterbirds in Poland, Sweden, France, Portugal, USA, Canada

[Gert van der Hoek]

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2010 Oct 15

Antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli, Including Strains with the Extended-spectrum Beta-lactamase and qnrS Genes, in Waterbirds on the Baltic Sea Coast of Poland.

Abstract
Individual cloacal swabs of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) as well as samples of waterbird feces obtained in 2008 and 2009 were cultivated for Escherichia coli. Isolates of E. coli were tested for susceptibility to 12 antimicrobial agents by disk diffusion method.

Moreover, the samples were subcultivated onto MacConkey agar (MCA) containing cefotaxime (2 mg L(-1)) to detect E. coli with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL), and subsequently onto MCA supplemented with ciprofloxacin (0.05 mg L(-1)) and MCA with nalidixic acid (20 mg L(-1)) to isolate fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli. PCR was used to detect specific antibiotic-resistance genes.

Using the selective method, we found 9 E. coli isolates producing ESBL with bla genes: blaCTX-M-1 (6 isolates), blaCTX-M-9 + blaTEM-1b (1 isolate), blaCTX-M-15 + blaOXA-1 (1 isolate), and blaSHV-12 (1 isolate). In the isolate with blaCTX-M-15, the gene aac(6)-Ib-cr was also detected. The bla genes were harbored by transferable plasmids of IncN and IncI1 groups.

Nine quinolone-resistant E. coli isolates with qnrS genes were found and characterized. The gene qnrS was associated with Tn3-like transposon on the IncX1 plasmid together with blaTEM-1 in two isolates. The gene qnrS was also harbored by conjugative plasmids of the IncN and IncX2 groups.

Even if populations of wild birds are not directly influenced by antibiotic practice, we have demonstrated that antibiotic-resistant E. coli strains, including strains with various ESBL and qnrS genes, are found in the feces of wild birds on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Poland.

Pubmed


See also:

ESBL in black-headed gull in Sweden

ESBL producing E. coli isolated from gulls in the south of France

Seagulls and Beaches as Reservoirs for Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli (Portugal)

ESBL E-Coli in Birds of Prey in Portugal

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[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Antibiotic-resistant E-Coli - incl. ESBL - found in waterbirds in Poland, Sweden, France, Portugal

Re: Antibiotic-resistant E-Coli - incl. ESBL - found in waterbirds in Poland, Sweden, France, Portugal

Detection of antibiotic resistance in gulls gives cause for concern

2009-06-22

Alarming findings from EU-funded research show that almost 50% of Mediterranean gulls carry bacteria that are resistant to certain antibiotics. Since, somewhat surprisingly, these birds share the same antibiotic resistance patterns as humans, the discovery signals a blow in the fight against one of society's most disturbing health threats: bacteria that build up resistance to treatment drugs. These findings from the NEW-FLUBIRD project are published in the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) ONE.

NEW-FLUBIRD received EUR 1.86 million under the 'Research for policy support' budget line of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). Its key aim was to establish a network of experts who could provide critical early warning and risk assessment systems in real time when a health threat is detected from avian influenza viruses in migratory birds.

In this study, a research team at Uppsala University in Sweden examined the presence of antibiotic resistance in two populations of Yellow-legged Gulls (Larus michahellis) in southern France. 'Gulls have developed behaviours that entail closer and closer contact with us, and [so] opportunities arise for the exchange of bacteria,' said research leader Mirva Drobni. 'This is why they are extremely interesting to study.'

The team's findings revealed a high level of general antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli (E. coli) samples taken from the gulls. 'Nearly half the isolates (47.1%) carried resistance to one or more antibiotics (in a panel of six antibiotics), and resistance to tetracycline, ampicillin and streptomycin was most widespread.'

Almost 10% of the gulls carried bacteria that produce ESBL (Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase) enzymes. These bacteria, such as E. coli and Klebsiella, made their presence known in the 1980s and are now listed as some of the most critical hospital-acquired infections. The dual threat associated with these bacteria is that they are both resistant to powerful antibiotics and able to spread very quickly.

Importantly, the Uppsala team was also able to show that the resistance pattern in these gulls was the same for humans, with mutually exchanged bacteria and resistance systems. In other words, the birds and humans share E. coli populations.

'Several ESBL-producing E. coli isolated from birds were identical to or clustered with isolates with human origin,' the scientists write. 'Hence, wild birds pick up E. coli of human origin, and with human resistance traits, and may accordingly also act as an environmental reservoir and melting pot of bacterial resistance with a potential to re-infect human populations.'

Dr Drobni added, 'These findings are worrisome as they also indicate a higher degree of resistance in bacteria from gulls than we see in humans in the same region. At present, we don't know whether they constitute merely a reservoir for antibiotics resistance or whether they are, moreover, a source of further dissemination to humans.'

Cordis

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Antibiotic-resistant E-Coli - incl. ESBL - found in waterbirds in Poland, Sweden, France, Portugal, USA

Re: Antibiotic-resistant E-Coli - incl. ESBL - found in waterbirds in Poland, Sweden, France, Portugal, USA

ICAAC: Seagull Feces Harbor Drug-Resistant E. Coli

By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today

Published: September 17, 2011

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and
Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner

Action Points

Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.


Explain that a significant portion of seagull droppings collected from Miami-area beaches contained bacteria with enzymes that gave them extensive antibiotic resistance.


Point out that 8% of E. coli and Enterobacter cloacae bacteria cultured from the seagull feces were positive for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase enzymes, and that other isolates carried other beta-lactamase enzymes.

CHICAGO -- A significant portion of seagull droppings collected from Miami-area beaches contained bacteria with enzymes that gave them extensive antibiotic resistance, researchers said here.

Some 8% of E. coli and Enterobacter cloacae bacteria cultured from the 52 samples were positive for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) enzymes, according to Patrice Nordmann, MD, PhD, of the Kremlin-Bicetre Hospital in Paris.

Although the study was small, Nordmann said the findings were consistent with earlier research conducted in Portugal and elsewhere.

Seagulls "could be an important vector for the spread of drug-resistant bacteria," he said at a press briefing held prior to the formal presentation at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

Nordmann noted that ESBL-containing enterobacteria are becoming a major public health problem. The mechanisms by which these organisms pick up the resistance elements, and how they then spread in the population, remain something of a mystery.

Some researchers have suspected that non-human species could be important reservoirs for resistant bacteria and also vectors for moving them from place to place.

Nordmann said seagulls were a logical suspect because they feed and defecate in areas frequented by people, especially beaches. In particular, urban gulls often subsist on human food waste, creating opportunities to pick up enterobacteria from contaminated leftovers.

The birds will then shed the pathogens in their droppings, which may be left on beach sand that people will later come into contact with.

The Kremlin-Bicetre researchers had previously found ESBL-carrying enterobacteria in seagull droppings collected in the Portuguese coastal city of Porto, prompting them to look for confirmation elsewhere in the world.

Read more - Medpage Today

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Antibiotic-resistant E-Coli - incl. ESBL - found in waterbirds in Poland, Sweden, France, Portugal, USA, Canada

2007 01 03

Free-living Canada Geese and antimicrobial resistance

We describe antimicrobial resistance among Escherichia coli isolated from free-living Canada Geese in Georgia and North Carolina (USA), Resistance patterns are compared to those reported by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System. Canada Geese may be vectors of antimicrobial resistance and resistance genes in agricultural environments.

- snip -

Conclusions

Outbreaks of illness associated with raw food products have been increasing, in part because of increased human consumption of fresh produce (1). However, several sources of preharvest contamination have been identified, including fecal material, contaminated irrigation water, and wild fowl (1). In a previous study, 32% of the Salmonella isolates from wild birds submitted to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study were resistant to sulfamethoxazole, and 18.1% were resistant to both sulfamethoxazole and streptomycin (8). These findings are likely a result of interaction of these populations with environmental sources of enteric bacteria. In our study, the spectrum of E. coli resistance was very different among agricultural habitat geese, depending upon their exposure to livestock wastes.

With growing populations of Canada Geese and associated evidence that they contribute to microbial water contamination (5,6), we hypothesized that observed resistance patterns might be related to the anthropogenic land usage of the bird habitats and that Canada Geese could serve as a vector of antimicrobial resistance genes between sources of fecal wastes and other environmental media.

Little or no resistance was observed among the E. coli isolates recovered from Canada Geese in regions with no known direct contact with liquid wastes. However, geese in direct contact with liquid swine wastes had a significantly higher prevalence of antimicrobial resistance.

Comparing these data with those reported recently by NARMS shows similar resistance profiles between E. coli isolates recovered from Canada Geese in contact with livestock wastes (Craven County) and those recovered from both food animals and fresh fruits and vegetables (12,13). In addition, a substantial number of isolates from several Canada Geese that had direct contact with lagoons containing liquid swine waste carried integrons and their associated resistance genes.

This and other studies suggest that resident, free-living, and migratory birds can be potential vectors of zoonotic pathogens, including antimicrobial-resistant variants, between waste-handling facilities and other agricultural resources, such as crops and water. Although all of our study populations of Canada Geese were nonmigratory, this species could serve to disperse bacteria between widely separated locations.

In addition, since these birds use farm ponds and waste lagoons and graze on pastures inhabited by cattle and other livestock, the opportunities exist for new health problems in wildlife populations to emerge as well as new reservoirs of zoonotic disease to form. This work is the basis of continuing efforts to examine the potential role of wildlife in agricultural habitats as vectors of antimicrobial resistance in the environment.

Full report

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Thanks to Maryn McKenna for the link