Determinants of virulence and of resistance to ceftiofur, gentamicin, and spectinomycin in clinical Escherichia coli from broiler chickens in Québec, Canada.

Antimicrobials are frequently used for the prevention of avian colibacillosis, with gentamicin used for this purpose in Québec until 2003. Ceftiofur was also used similarly, but voluntarily withdrawn in 2005 due to increasing resistance. Spectinomycin-lincomycin was employed as a replacement, but ceftiofur use was partially reinstated in 2007 until its definitive ban by the poultry industry in 2014. Gentamicin resistance frequency increased during the past decade in clinical Escherichia coli isolates from broiler chickens in Québec, despite this antimicrobial no longer being used. Since this increase coincided with the use of spectinomycin-lincomycin, co-selection of gentamicin resistance through spectinomycin was suspected. Therefore, relationships between spectinomycin, gentamicin, and ceftiofur resistance determinants were investigated here. The distribution of 13 avian pathogenic E. coli virulence-associated genes and their association with spectinomycin resistance were also assessed. A sample of 586 E. coli isolates from chickens with colibacillosis in Québec between 2009 and 2013 was used. The major genes identified for resistance to ceftiofur, gentamicin, and spectinomycin were bla, aac(3)-VI, and aadA, respectively. The aadA and aac(3)-VI genes were strongly associated and shown to be located on a modified class 1 integron. The aadA and bla genes were negatively associated, but when present together, were generally located on the same plasmids. No statistical positive association was observed between aadA and virulence genes, and virulence genes were only rarely detected on plasmids encoding spectinomycin resistance. Thus, the use of spectinomycin-lincomycin may likely select for gentamicin but not ceftiofur resistance, nor for any of the virulence-associated genes investigated.