First Known Report of mcr -Harboring Enterobacteriaceae in the Dominican Republic

Angela Perdomo, Hattie E. Webb, Marie Bugarel, Cindy R. Friedman, Louise K. Francois Watkins, Guy H. Loneragan and Alexandra Calle ()
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Angela Perdomo: School of Veterinary Medicine, Texas Tech University, Amarillo, TX 79409, USA
Hattie E. Webb: Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
Marie Bugarel: Division of Research and Development Resources, BioMérieux, 69795 Lyon, France
Cindy R. Friedman: Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
Louise K. Francois Watkins: Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA
Guy H. Loneragan: School of Veterinary Medicine, Texas Tech University, Amarillo, TX 79409, USA
Alexandra Calle: School of Veterinary Medicine, Texas Tech University, Amarillo, TX 79409, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: Colistin is a last-resort antibiotic used to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. People with a history of travel to the Dominican Republic have become sick with pathogenic bacteria carrying the mobile colistin resistance gene, mcr -1, during and after traveling. This investigation aimed to identify mcr genes in Enterobacteriaceae isolated from food animal sources in the Dominican Republic. Three hundred and eleven samples were tested, from which 1354 bacterial isolates were obtained. Real-time PCR tests showed that 70.7% (220 out of 311) of the samples and 3.2% (44 out of 1354) of the isolates tested positive for the mcr gene. All RT-PCR presumptive mcr -positive isolates (n = 44) and a subset (n = 133) of RT-PCR presumptive mcr -negative isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. WGS analysis showed that 39 isolates carried the mcr gene, with 37 confirmed as positive through RT-PCR and two as negative. Further, all of the mcr -positive genomes were identified as Escherichia coli and all contained a IncX4 plasmid replicon. Resistant determinants for other antibiotics important for human health were found in almost all isolates carrying mcr genes.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance; colistin resistance; Enterobacteriaceae; Escherichia coli; IncX4; mcr genes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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