Klebsiella pneumoniae complex isolated from diseased companion animals reveals genomic diversity, multidrug resistance, and extended-spectrum β-lactamase-encoding genes.

Abstract

AIMS: To evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility and clonal relatedness of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates recovered from diseased companion animals at a Teaching Veterinary Hospital in Brazil. METHODS AND RESULTS: A collection of 59 K. pneumoniae complex isolates originating from dogs and cats were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing, multiple antimicrobial resistance (MAR) index determination, polymerase chain reaction for carbapenemase-encoding genes, and molecular typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Nineteen isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS). MAR indices ranged from 0 to 0.73, 50 different PFGE restriction profiles were identified. No carbapenemase genes were detected. Seventeen different sequence types were identified among the 19 sequenced strains, and extended-spectrum β-lactamase genes were detected in five of them. CONCLUSIONS: Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from companion animals revealed high genetic diversity, both in PFGE and multi-locus sequence typing analysis; conversely, they presented resistance genes commonly found in human clinical isolates.