Emerging Microbes and Infections (Dec 2024)

Transmission of blaNDM in Enterobacteriaceae among animals, food and human

  • Bo Fu,
  • Jian Xu,
  • Dandan Yin,
  • Chengtao Sun,
  • Dejun Liu,
  • Weishuai Zhai,
  • Rina Bai,
  • Yue Cao,
  • Qin Zhang,
  • Shizhen Ma,
  • Timothy R. Walsh,
  • Fupin Hu,
  • Yang Wang,
  • Congming Wu,
  • Jianzhong Shen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2024.2337678
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1

Abstract

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ABSTRACTDespite carbapenems not being used in animals, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), particularly New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-producing CRE (NDM-CRE), are prevalent in livestock. Concurrently, the incidence of human infections caused by NDM-CRE is rising, particularly in children. Although a positive association between livestock production and human NDM-CRE infections at the national level was identified, the evidence of direct transmission of NDM originating from livestock to humans remains largely unknown. Here, we conducted a cross-sectional study in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to examine the prevalence of NDM-CRE in chickens and pigs along the breeding–slaughtering–retail chains, in pork in cafeterias of schools, and in colonizations and infections from children's hospital and examined the correlation of NDM-CRE among animals, foods and humans. Overall, the blaNDM increases gradually along the chicken and pig breeding (4.70%/2.0%) –slaughtering (7.60%/22.40%) –retail (65.56%/34.26%) chains. The slaughterhouse has become a hotspot for cross-contamination and amplifier of blaNDM. Notably, 63.11% of pork from the school cafeteria was positive for blaNDM. The prevalence of blaNDM in intestinal and infection samples from children's hospitals was 21.68% and 19.80%, respectively. whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis revealed the sporadic, not large-scale, clonal spread of NDM-CRE along the chicken and pig breeding–slaughtering–retail chain, with further spreading via IncX3-blaNDM plasmid within each stage of whole chains. Clonal transmission of NDM-CRE is predominant in children's hospitals. The IncX3-blaNDM plasmid was highly prevalent among animals and humans and accounted for 57.7% of Escherichia coli and 91.3% of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Attention should be directed towards the IncX3 plasmid to control the transmission of blaNDM between animals and humans.

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