Pandemic one health clones ofandproducing CTX-M-14, CTX-M-27, CTX-M-55 and CTX-M-65 ESβLs among companion animals in northern Ecuador.

Abstract

From a One Health perspective, dogs and cats have begun to be recognized as important reservoirs for clinically significant multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens. In this study, we investigated the occurrence and genomic features of ESβL producing Enterobacterales isolated from dogs, in the province of Imbabura, Ecuador. We identified four isolates expressing ESβLs from healthy and diseased animals. In this regard, twostrains producing CTX-M-55-like or CTX-M-65 ESβLs belonged to the international ST10 and ST162, whereas twoproducing CTX-M-14 or CTX-M-27 belonged to ST35 and ST661. Phylogenomic analysis clustered (95-105 SNP differences) CTX-M-55/ST10from companion animal with food and humanstrains of ST10 isolated in 2016, in Australia and Cambodia, respectively; whereas CTX-M-27-positiveST661 was clustered (201-216 SNP differences) with human strains identified in Italy, in 2013 and 2017, respectively. In summary, we report the presence and genomic data of global human-associated clones of CTX-M-producingandin dogs, in Ecuador. The implementation of a national epidemiological surveillance program is necessary to establish future strategies to control the dissemination of antibiotic-resistant priority pathogens using a One Health approach.