title: Antimicrobial resistance and genomic rep-PCR fingerprints of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains from animals on the background of the global population structure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important human opportunistic pathogen responsible for fatal nosocomial infections worldwide, and has emerged as a relevant animal pathogen. Treatment options are dramatically decreasing, due to antimicrobial resistance and the microorganism's large versatile genome. Antimicrobial resistance profiles, serotype frequency and genomic profile of unrelated P. aeruginosa isolates of veterinary origin (n = 73), including domesticated, farm, zoo and wild animals mainly from Portugal were studied. The genomic profile, determined by DiversiLab system (Rep-PCR-based technique), was compared with the P. aeruginosa global population structure to evaluate their relatedness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Around 40% of the isolates expressed serotypes O6 (20.5%) and O1 (17.8%). A total of 46.6% of isolates was susceptible to all antimicrobials tested. Isolates obtained from most animals were non-multidrug resistant (86.3%), whereas 11% were multidrug resistant, MDR (non-susceptible to at least one agent in ≥ three antimicrobial categories), and 2.7% extensively drug resistant, XDR (non-susceptible to at least one agent in all but two or fewer antimicrobial categories). Resistance percentages were as follows: amikacin (0.0%), aztreonam (41.1%), cefepime (9.6%), ceftazidime (2.7%), ciprofloxacin (15.1%), colistin (0.0%), gentamicin (12.3%), imipenem (1.4%), meropenem (1.4%), piperacillin + tazobactam (12.3%), ticarcillin (16.4%), ticarcillin + clavulanic acid (17.8%), and tobramycin (1.4%). Animal isolates form a population with a non-clonal epidemic structure indistinguishable from the global P. aeruginosa population structure, where no specific 'animal clonal lineage' was detected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serotypes O6 and O1 were the most frequent. Serotype frequency and antimicrobial resistance patterns found in P. aeruginosa from animals were as expected for this species. This study confirms earlier results that P. aeruginosa has a non-clonal population structure, and shows that P. aeruginosa population from animals is homogeneously scattered and indistinguishable from the global population structure.
authors.affiliation: CIISA/Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Isa
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.affiliation: CIISA/Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal. moliveira@fmv.ulisboa.pt.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: CIISA/Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: José Pedro
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular and Cellular Technology, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bilocq
authors.affiliation: CIISA/Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leitão
authors.affiliation: CIISA/Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular and Cellular Technology, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Pirnay
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular and Cellular Technology, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Vos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D058889:Molecular Typing / Q000662:veterinary; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011174:Portugal; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D012703:Serotyping / Q000662:veterinary; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: Animal origin; Antimicrobials; Environment; MDR; Non-clonal; Population; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Rep-PCR; Serotype; XDR