Antimicrobial resistance patterns of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 and O157:H7- from different origins

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serotypes including O157:H7 (n = 129) from dairy cows, cull dairy cow feces, cider, salami, human feces, ground beef, bulk tank milk, bovine feces, and lettuce; and O157:H7- (n = 24) isolated from bovine dairy and bovine feedlot cows were evaluated for antimicrobial resistance against 26 antimicrobials and the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes (tetA, tetB, tetC, tetD, tetE, tetG, floR, cmlA, strA, strB, sulI, sulII, and ampC). All E. coli exhibited resistance to five or more antimicrobial agents, and the majority of isolates carried one or more target antimicrobial resistance gene(s) in different combinations. The majority of E. coli showed resistance to ampicillin, aztreonam, cefaclor, cephalothin, cinoxacin, and nalidixic acid, and all isolates were susceptible to chloramphenicol and florfenicol. Many STEC O157:H7 and O157:H7-isolates were susceptible to amikacin, carbenicillin, ceftriaxone, cefuroxime, ciprofloxacin, fosfomycin, moxalactam, norfloxacin, streptomycin, tobramycin, trimethoprim, and tetracycline. The majority of STEC O157:H7 (79.8%) and O157:H7- (91.7%) carried one or more antimicrobial resistance gene(s) regardless of whether phenotypically resistant or susceptible. Four tetracycline resistant STEC O157:H7 isolates carried both tetA and tetC. Other tetracycline resistance genes (tetB, tetD, tetE, and tetG) were not detected in any of the isolates. Among nine streptomycin resistant STEC O157:H7 isolates, eight carried strA-strB along with aadA, whereas the other isolate carried aadA alone. However, the majority of tetracycline and streptomycin susceptible STEC isolates also carried tetA and aadA genes, respectively. Most ampicillin resistant E. coli of both serotypes carried ampC genes. Among sulfonamide resistance genes, sulII was detected only in STEC O157:H7 (4 of 80 sulfonamide-resistant isolates) and sulI was detected in O157:H7- (1 of 16 sulfonamide resistant isolates). The emergence and dissemination of multidrug resistance in STEC can serve as a reservoir for different antimicrobial resistance genes. Dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes to commensal and pathogenic bacteria could occur through any one of the horizontal gene transfer mechanisms adopted by the bacteria.