Oral Presentation The Prato Conference on the Pathogenesis of Bacterial Infections of Animals 2016

Whole Genome Sequence analysis of multiple antimicrobial resistant, extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) from humans and food animals (#16)

Steven Djordjevic 1 , Cameron Reid 1 , Max Cummins 1 , Jessica McKinnon 1 , Ethan Wyrsch 1 , Toni Chapman 2 , Michael Liu 1 , Piklu Roy Chowdhury 1 , Aaron Darling 1
  1. University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway, NSW, Australia
  2. NSW Department of Primary Industries, Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Menangle, NSW, Australia

The number of deaths from antimicrobial-resistant infections has been estimated to rise to 10 million p.a. by 2050, of which 3 million p.a. are predicted to succumb to infections caused by multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli). ExPEC represent the most common Gram negative pathogen in humans and are responsible for a range of diseases including infections of the urinary tract (cystitis, pyelonephritis and sepsis) and meningitis, particularly in neonates. ExPEC infections incur an enormous cost to health care budgets and may have a foodborne aetiology but there are major gaps in available data.  We have sequenced over 500 E. coli that carry the class 1 integron integrase gene intI1, a reliable proxy for a multiple drug resistance genotype including uropathogenic E.coli from humans and a combination of commensal and pathogenic E. coli from intensively reared food animals. We have examined the phylogenetic relationships these E. coli share and examined the repertoire of mobile genetic elements that play an important role in mobilizing antimicrobial resistance genes. The datasets underpin a One Health approach to tackling the problem of antimicrobial resistance.