First Detection of Human ST131-CTX-M-15-O25-B2 Clone and High-Risk Clonal Lineages of ESBL/pAmpC-Producing E. coli Isolates from Diarrheic Poultry in Tunisia

Ahlem Jouini (1, 2) , Amira Klibi (1, 2) , Imen Elarbi (1, 2) , Meriem Ben Chaabene (1, 2) , Safa Hamrouni (1, 2) , Oussema Souiai (3) , Mariem Hanachi (3, 4) , Abdeljelil Ghram (1, 2) , Abderrazak Maaroufi (1, 2)

1 LR11IPT03 - Laboratoire d’Epidémiologie et de Microbiologie Vétérinaire
2 UTM - Université de Tunis El Manar
3 LR11IPT09 - Laboratoire de Bioinformatique, biomathématiques, biostatistiques (BIMS)
4 UCAR - Université de Carthage (Tunisie)

Circulation of a multi-resistance clone of bacteria associated with genetic elements in diseased animals constitutes a global public health problem. Our study focused on the characterization of the support of ESBL in cefotaxime resistant E. coli (CTXR) isolates recovered from poultry with diarrhea, analysis of their clonal lineage, and virulence-associated genes. The study was carried out on 130 samples of chickens with diarrhea, collected in 2015 from poultry farms in Tunisia. Isolates of 20 CTXR E. coli strains were identified as ESBL and AmpC β- lactamase producers. The following β-lactamase genes (number of isolates) were detected: blaCTX-M-15+ blaOXA1 (4), blaCTX-M-15 + blaOXA1 + blaTEM-1b (2), blaCTX-M-1 + blaTEM-1b (9), blaCTX-M-1 (2), blaCMY2 + blaTEM-1b (3). Six E. coli harboring blaCTXM-15 were allocated to ST131-B2-O25b-; six and three blaCTX-M-1 were grouped in ST155, ST10, and ST58, respectively, related to the phylogroup D and A. The qnrB gene, the variant aac(6′)-Ib-cr, and the class 1 integrons with different gene cassettes, were detected amongst our 20 isolated strains, which were classified as ExPEC and aEPEC. Our findings highlighted the emergence of the human pandemic ST131-CTX-M-15-O25-B2 clone and the high risk of such clonal lineage strains in diarrheic poultry, in Tunisia, which could constitute a risk of their transfer to healthy animals and humans.

Mots clés: ST131; clonal lineages; pAmpC; diarrheic poultry; pathogenic bacteria; ESBL

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Ahlem Jouini, Amira Klibi, Imen Elarbi, Meriem Ben Chaabene, Safa Hamrouni, et al.. First Detection of Human ST131-CTX-M-15-O25-B2 Clone and High-Risk Clonal Lineages of ESBL/pAmpC-Producing E. coli Isolates from Diarrheic Poultry in Tunisia. Antibiotics, 2021, 10 (6), pp.670. ⟨10.3390/antibiotics10060670⟩. ⟨pasteur-03546791⟩