Antimicrobial resistance patterns of and isolated from dogs presented at a veterinary academic hospital in South Africa.

BACKGROUND

and are opportunistic bacterial pathogens responsible for hospital-acquired infections in veterinary medicine. Infection with these bacteria always requires urgent antimicrobial therapy. However, there is no evidence of studies that have investigated the antimicrobial drug resistance profile of these organisms in a veterinary setting in South Africa. This study investigated the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns of and from clinical specimens obtained from dogs presented at a veterinary academic hospital. The findings of this study contribute to an improved understanding of the AMR profile of these bacteria in veterinary medicine.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Retrospective data of clinical samples from dogs that were positive for and between 2007 and 2013 were used in this study. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was determined using the disk diffusion method following the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. The isolates were subjected to a panel of 20 antibiotics, while isolates were subjected to a panel of 22 antibiotics. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented using tables and figures.

RESULTS

Twenty (n = 20) isolates were isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage, foreign objects, bone, urine, skin, blood, ear, nasal, and oral cavity. Almost all (95%, 19/20) isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic, and 60% (12/20) were multidrug-resistant (MDR). (n = 56) was isolated from urine, foreign objects, abscesses, ears, eyes, tracheal aspirations, bronchoalveolar lavages, eyes, abdominal aspirates, anal glands, bones, and intestinal and lung biopsies. All (100%, 56/56) isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic, and 98% (55/56) were MDR.

CONCLUSION

Both and were isolated in various clinical tissue samples and exhibited a high prevalence of resistance to multiple antibiotics. In addition, these bacteria exhibited a high prevalence of resistance to β-lactam compared to other classes of antibiotics, which is likely to impact treatment options and patient prognosis.