Molecular characterisation of extended-spectrum β-lactamase- and plasmid AmpC-producing Escherichia coli strains isolated from broilers in Béjaïa, Algeria

This study aimed to characterise the molecular support of antibiotic resistance in expanded-spectrum cephalosporin (ESC)-resistant Escherichia coli isolates recovered from healthy broilers in Béjaïa, northeast Algeria. A total of 61 intestinal swabs from slaughtered broilers from four regions in Béjaïa locality, Algeria, were collected between February and April 2014, from which 20 ESC-resistant E. coli strains were isolated. Escherichia coli isolates were identified by classical biochemical and MALDI-TOF methods. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using disk diffusion and Etest methods. Screening for β-lactamases, aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme (AME)-encoding genes and qnr determinants was performed by PCR and sequencing. Clonal relatedness was determined using molecular typing by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Antibiotic susceptibility testing revealed that the isolates showed high rates of resistance (>90%) to amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, piperacillin/tazobactam, aztreonam, ceftazidime, streptomycin, tobramycin, nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin. Low rates of resistance were observed for kanamycin (35%), amikacin (30%), cefoxitin (20%) and cefotaxime (15%). Molecular characterisation revealed that all of the isolates expressed the blaTEM-1 gene. Fourteen of them harboured the blaSHV-12 gene, two harboured the blaCTX-M-1 gene and four isolates harboured blaCMY-2. Screening for AME-encoding genes demonstrated that all isolates contained the aadA gene. In addition, qnrA was detected as the quinolone resistance determinant in 13 isolates. MLST revealed four known sequence types (STs), including ST744, ST38, ST1011 and ST2179, as well as one new sequence type (ST5086). Here we report the first study describing the clonal diversity of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)- and plasmid AmpC-producing E. coli isolated from healthy broilers in Algeria.