Occurrence and faecal shedding of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing <i>Escherichia coli</i> in sows and their offspring

Vašek, Jan; Vaňhara, Jonáš; Dolejská, Monika; Masaříková, Martina; Čížek, Alois; Smola, Jiří

doi:10.2754/avb202089030217

Acta Veterinaria > Archive > 2020, Vol. 89 > Issue 3 > Occurrence and faecal shedding of…

Acta Vet. Brno 2020, 89: 217-223

https://doi.org/10.2754/avb202089030217

Occurrence and faecal shedding of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in sows and their offspring

Jan Vašek¹, Jonáš Vaňhara¹, Monika Dolejská^2,3, Martina Masaříková⁴, Alois Čížek^2,4, Jiří Smola^1,2

¹University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ruminant and Swine Clinic, Brno, Czech Republic
²CEITEC VFU, Brno, Czech Republic
³University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Brno, Czech Republic
⁴University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Brno, Czech Republic

Received April 22, 2020
Accepted June 22, 2020

The aim of the present study was to monitor the presence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli on farm A with the history of previous use of ceftiofur in suckling pigletsand to analyse the risk factors of selection and dissemination of ESBL producers in the production herd. In the year of 2014, a total of 411 samples (rectal swabs or faeces)from pigs of various age categories (sows, gilts and suckling piglets) were collected. The sampling was performed more than 24 months after the ban of ceftiofur on the farm.The sows and gilts were sampled repeatedly before and after farrowing. All collected samples were directly cultivated on MacConkey agar (MCA) containing cefotaxime (2 mg/l) and obtained sub-cultures were tested for ESBL production by double disc synergy test. According to our results, all gilts were negative for ESBL-producing E. coli in the introduction period, however, the excretion of ESBL-producing E. coli was observed before and after delivery. Most of the new-born piglets from positive sows and gilts shed ESBL-producing E. coli early after birth. All tested ESBL-producing isolates were resistant to multiple antimicrobials, suggesting that antibiotics from other groups used for therapy co-select for ESBL producers in pigs on the studied farm. Intestinal colonization of lactating sows and their offspring as well as survival of ESBL-producing E. coli in the farm environment should be recognised as important risk factors of circulation and long-time persistence of ESBL producers in the herd.

Keywords

Ceftiofur, new-born piglets, persistence, ESBL.

Funding

We thank Jana Hofirkova for her assistance in the laboratory. The study was funded by CEVA and CEITEC 2020 - Central European Institute of Technology from European Regional Development Fund (LQ1601) from the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports within the National Programme for Sustainability II. Jan Vasek was supported by Internal Grant Agency of the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Brno, Czech Republic (1042014/FVL).