Are dogs and cats a reservoir of resistant and virulent Enterococcus faecalis strains and a potential threat to public health?
AIMS
The aim of the study was to assess resistance and virulence of Enterococcus faecalis isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of dogs and cats, analyse their genotypic variability and estimate the correlation between the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance, virulence determinants and genotypic profiles.


METHODS AND RESULTS
The susceptibility of E. faecalis to penicillin, ampicillin, vancomycin, erythromycin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, streptomycin and kanamycin was determined by the broth microdilution method. The isolates were tested for the presence of selected genes encoding resistance to macrolides, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides and glycopeptides as well as genes encoding virulence factors. Genotyping was performed using the ADSRRS-fingerprinting method. The highest percentage of resistant strains was observed in relation to erythromycin (96%), ciprofloxacin (93%) and tetracycline (82%). High percentage of strains resistant to high-level aminoglycosides was noted (kanamycin-33%, gentamicin-29%, streptomycin-24%), as well as multidrug-resistant (78%). The genotypic analysis of E. faecalis showed high heterogeneity of genotypic profiles (37) correlating with some resistance profiles. The most common virulence genes amongst E. faecalis were efaAfs (93%), cpd, ccf and cob (86%).


SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY
The results of this study confirm that companion animals should be considered as a reservoir of E. faecalis carrying resistance and virulence determinants.
['Trościańczyk|A|A|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6400-2131', 'Nowakiewicz|A|A|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3961-5291', 'Gnat|S|S|https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9872-0046', 'Łagowski|D|D|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7846-5444', 'Osińska|M|M|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0709-118X']
D000818:Animals D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents D002371:Cat Diseases D002415:Cats D004283:Dog Diseases D004285:Dogs D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial D013293:Enterococcus faecalis D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests D011634:Public Health D037521:Virulence Factors
virulence genotyping antimicrobials PCR (polymerase chain reaction) gene expression