Vet World Vol.17 April-2024 Article - 17
Research Article
Veterinary World, 17(4): 880-887
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.880-887
Antimicrobial resistance and associated risk factors in Escherichia coli isolated from Peruvian dogs: A focus on extended-spectrum β-lactamases and colistin
1 Grupo de Investigación en Dinámicas y Epidemiología de la Resistencia a Antimicrobianos - "One Health", Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Peru.
2 Facultad Biología, Universidad Ricardo Palma, Lima, Peru.
3 Universidad Continental, Huancayo, Peru.
4 Área de Microbiología Molecular, Centro de Investigación Biomédica de La Rioja (CIBIR), 26006 Logroño, Spain.
Background and Aim: Established antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance in companion animals is lacking, particularly in low-middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to analyze AMR and its risk factors in Escherichia coli isolated from dogs at two veterinary centers in Lima (Peru).
Materials and Methods: Ninety dogs were included in the study. Antimicrobial susceptibility was established by disk diffusion, whereas microdilution was used to determine colistin susceptibility. Mechanisms related to extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) and colistin resistance were determined by polymerase chain reaction. Clonal relationships of colistin-resistant isolates were assessed by XbaI-pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.
Results: Thirty-five E. coli strains were isolated. High levels of resistance to ampicillin (57.1%), nalidixic acid (54.3%), tetracycline (48.6%), and azithromycin (25.7%) were detected. Cephalosporin resistance levels were ≥20% and those for colistin were 14.3%. Twelve (34.2%) isolates were ESBL producers; of these, six blaCTX-M-55 (50.0%), 2 (16.6%) blaCTX-M-15, and 2 (16.6%) blaCTX-M-8-like genes were found. The five colistin-resistant isolates were clonally unrelated, with four of them presenting amino acid codon substitutions in the mgrB gene (V8A) or mutations in the mgrB promoter (a12g, g98t, and c89t). Furthermore, dog age, <6 years (p = 0.027) and raw diet (p = 0.054) were associated with resistance to a greater number of antibiotic families.
Conclusion: Despite small number of samples included, the study found that dogs studied were carriers of multidrug-resistant E. coli, including last-resort antimicrobials, representing a public health problem due to close contact between dogs and humans. This issue suggests the need for larger studies addressed to design strategies to prevent the spread of resistant micro-organisms in small animal clinics and domestic settings.
Keywords: antibiotic resistance, colistin, dogs, extended-spectrum β-lactamases, Peru, risk factor.
How to cite this article: Ventura M, Oporto-Llerena R, Espinoza K, Guibert F, Quispe AM, Vilar N, López M, Rojo-Bezares B, Sáenz Y, Ruiz J, and Pons MJ (2024) Antimicrobial resistance and associated risk factors in Escherichia coli isolated from Peruvian dogs: A focus on extended-spectrum β-lactamases and colistin, Veterinary World, 17(4): 880-887.
Received: 2023-11-22 Accepted: 2024-03-26 Published online: 2024-04-20
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.880-887
Copyright: Ventura, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
