title: Prevalence of mcr-1 in E. coli from Livestock and Food in Germany, 2010-2015.
abstract: Since the first description of a plasmid-mediated colistin resistance gene (mcr-1) in November 2015 multiple reports of mcr-1 positive isolates indicate a worldwide spread of this newly discovered resistance gene in Enterobacteriaceae. Although the occurrence of mcr-1 positive isolates of livestock, food, environment and human origin is well documented only few systematic studies on the prevalence of mcr-1 are available yet. Here, comprehensive data on the prevalence of mcr-1 in German livestock and food isolates are presented. Over 10.600 E. coli isolates from the national monitoring on zoonotic agents from the years 2010-2015 were screened for phenotypic colistin resistance (MIC value >2 mg/l). Of those, 505 resistant isolates were screened with a newly developed TaqMan-based real-time PCR for the presence of the mcr-1 gene. In total 402 isolates (79.8% of colistin resistant isolates) harboured the mcr-1 gene. The prevalence was depending on the food production chain. The highest prevalence was detected in the turkey food chain (10.7%), followed by broilers (5.6%). A low prevalence was determined in pigs, veal calves and laying hens. The mcr-1 was not detected in beef cattle, beef and dairy products in all years investigated. In conclusion, TaqMan based real-time PCR provides a fast and accurate tool for detection of mcr-1 gene. The overall detection rate of 3.8% for mcr-1 among all E. coli isolates tested is due to high prevalence of mcr-1 in poultry production chains. More epidemiological studies of other European countries are urgently needed to assess German prevalence data.
authors.affiliation: Department Biological Safety, National Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Irrgang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Animal Hygiene and Environmental Health, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Roschanski
authors.affiliation: Department Biological Safety, National Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernd-Alois
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Tenhagen
authors.affiliation: Department Biological Safety, National Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Mirjam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grobbel
authors.affiliation: Department Biological Safety, National Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Skladnikiewicz-Ziemer
authors.affiliation: Department Biological Safety, National Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Institute for Animal Hygiene and Environmental Health, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Roesler
authors.affiliation: Department Biological Safety, National Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Käsbohrer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000662:veterinary*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D058751:Livestock / Q000382:microbiology*; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C000614037:MCR-1 protein, E coli