Epidemiology, Environmental Risks, Virulence, and Resistance Determinants of From Dairy Cows in Hubei, China.

() is an opportunistic pathogen, which causes serious infections in humans and animals. To investigate the antimicrobial resistance pattern and virulence profile of , a total of 887 samples were collected from both the healthy and mastitis cows and the bedding, feed, feces, air, drinking water, spraying water, washing water, and milk cup swabs from five dairy farms in Hubei, China, during 2019 and 2020. was isolated and identified using PCR of the and 16S rDNA sequencing. A genotypic characterization was performed for isolates using typing multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Antimicrobial resistances were confirmed using broth microdilution against 17 antimicrobial agents and resistance and virulence genes were determined by PCR. The prevalence of was 26.94% (239/887) distributed in 101 allele types (199/239, 83.26%) and 100 sequence types (STs) (209/239, 87.45%), including 5 new allele type and 25 new STs. Phylogenetic analysis showed that isolated from milk, nipple swab, feed, and feces is classified in the same clone complex. By comparing with the PubMLST database, at least 67 STs have the risk of spreading in different species and regions. Interestingly, 60 STs have been isolated from humans. The isolates were highly sensitive to meropenem and colistin, but resistant to ampicillin (100%), sulfisoxazole (94.56%), cephalothin (47.28%), streptomycin (30.13%), and so on. Noteworthy, multidrug-resistant (MDR) rate was found to be 43.93% in this study. By PCR, 30 of 68 antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes were identified; the prevalence rate of , , , , , and was more than 50%. Eleven -producing were found. The detection rate of , , , , , , , and was over 85%. This study reinforces the epidemiological importance of in food-producing animals in Hubei. The emergence and spread of environmental MDR may pose a potential threat to food safety and public health.