Antimicrobial resistance and virulence traits in Enterococcus strains isolated from dogs and cats

作者：Iseppi Ramona; Messi Patrizia; Anacarso Immacolata; Bondi Moreno^*; Sabia Carla; Condo Carla; de Niederhausern Simona

来源：New Microbiologica, 2015, 38(3): 369-378.

• Antibiotic-resistances
• Bacteriocin-like substances
• Enterococci
• Pets
• Virulence factors

We investigated presence and prevalence of antibiotic-resistances and other biological characters in enterococci isolated from faeces of healthy dogs and cats because these microorganisms represent important human and veterinary pathogens/opportunists, and a significant burden for healthcare systems. In all samples (n=115) we detected enterococci, with a predominance of Enterococcus faecium (42; 36.5%) and Enterococcus faecalis (36; 31.3%) species, endowed with virulence traits and multidrug-resistance. The two predominant resistance patterns (erythromycin, tetracycline) were examined by polymerase chain reaction for tet and enn genes. Only tetM for tetracycline, and ermA and ennB for erythromycin were detected. PCR for gelatinase gene (gelE) was positive in 62.6% of isolates, but only 26.1% produce gelatinase suggesting the existence of silent genes. efaAfs and efaAfm genes were found in E. faecalis and E. faecium respectively. 89.6% of isolates produced bacteriocin-like substances with a prevailing action against Listeria genus and, among these, 33.9% were positive for the bacteriocin structural genes entA, entL50 or entP. According to our study, pet animals can be considered a reservoir of potentially pathogenic enterococci and we cannot exclude that those microorganisms may be responsible for opportunistic infections in high-risk pet owners.

• 出版日期2015-7