Dogs Can Be Reservoirs of Escherichia coli Strains Causing Urinary Tract Infection in Human Household Contacts

Bibliographic Details
Title: Dogs Can Be Reservoirs of Escherichia coli Strains Causing Urinary Tract Infection in Human Household Contacts
Authors: Peter Damborg, Mattia Pirolo, Laura Schøn Poulsen, Niels Frimodt-Møller, Luca Guardabassi
Source: Antibiotics, Vol 12, Iss 8, p 1269 (2023)
Publisher Information: MDPI AG, 2023.
Publication Year: 2023
Collection: LCC:Therapeutics. Pharmacology
Subject Terms: Escherichia coli, transmission, whole-genome sequence, One Health, Therapeutics. Pharmacology, RM1-950
More Details: This study aimed to investigate the role played by pets as reservoirs of Escherichia coli strains causing human urinary tract infections (UTIs) in household contacts. Among 119 patients with community-acquired E. coli UTIs, we recruited 19 patients who lived with a dog or a cat. Fecal swabs from the household pet(s) were screened by antimicrobial selective culture to detect E. coli displaying the resistance profile of the human strain causing UTI. Two dogs shed E. coli isolates indistinguishable from the UTI strain by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Ten months later, new feces from these dogs and their owners were screened selectively and quantitatively for the presence of the UTI strain, followed by core-genome phylogenetic analysis of all isolates. In one pair, the resistance phenotype of the UTI strain occurred more frequently in human (108 CFU/g) than in canine feces (104 CFU/g), and human fecal isolates were more similar (2–7 SNPs) to the UTI strain than canine isolates (83–86 SNPs). In the other pair, isolates genetically related to the UTI strain (23–40 SNPs) were only detected in canine feces (105 CFU/g). These results show that dogs can be long-term carriers of E. coli strains causing UTIs in human household contacts.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2079-6382
Relation: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6382/12/8/1269; https://doaj.org/toc/2079-6382
DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics12081269
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/c5603749d3274e259a65fac28ef720c4
Accession Number: edsdoj.5603749d3274e259a65fac28ef720c4
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:20796382
DOI:10.3390/antibiotics12081269
Published in:Antibiotics
Language:English