U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
ORCID IDs
Alan B. Franklin http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9491-795X
Christina A. Ahlstrom http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5414-8076
Date of this Version
2020
Citation
Scientific Reports (2020) 10:4408
doi 10.1038/s41598-020-61318-2
Abstract
In 2015, the mcr-1 gene was discovered in Escherichia coli in domestic swine in China that conferred resistance to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort used in treating multi-drug resistant bacterial infections in humans. Since then, mcr-1 was found in other human and animal populations, including wild gulls. Because gulls could disseminate the mcr-1 gene, we conducted an experiment to assess whether gulls are readily colonized with mcr-1 positive E. coli, their shedding patterns, transmission among conspecifics, and environmental deposition. Shedding of mcr-1 E. coli by small gull flocks followed a lognormal curve and gulls shed one strain >101 log10 CFU/g in their feces for 16.4 days, which persisted in the environment for 29.3 days. Because gulls are mobile and can shed antimicrobial-resistant bacteria for extended periods, gulls may facilitate transmission of mcr-1 positive E. coli to humans and livestock through fecal contamination of water, public areas and agricultural operations.
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Comments
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