Linezolid- and Multidrug-Resistant Enterococci in Raw Commercial Dog Food, Europe, 2019–2020

Ana R. Freitas, Liliana Finisterra, Ana P. Tedim, Bárbara Duarte, Carla Novais, Luísa Peixe, and from the ESCMID Study Group on Food- and Water-borne Infections (EFWISG)

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/8/20-4933_article

We describe enterococci in raw-frozen dog food commercialized in Europe as a source of genes encoding resistance to the antibiotic drug linezolid and of strains and plasmids enriched in antibiotic-resistance and virulence genes in hospitalized patients. Whole-genome sequencing was fundamental to linking isolates from dog food to human cases across Europe.

This study has also been press-released by escmid and released yesterday in many places such as the guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/10/raw-dog-food-may-be-fuelling-spread-of-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria

Diversity of metal and antibiotic resistance genes in Enterococcus spp. from the last century reflects multiple pollution and genetic exchange among phyla from overlapping ecosystems

Andreia Rebelo, Ana R. Freitas, Eduarda Silveira, Antonio Sanchez-Valenzuela, Agostinho Almeida, Fernando Baquero, Teresa M. Coque, Luísa Peixe, Patrícia Antunes, Carla Novais from the ESCMID Study Group on Food-and Water-borne Infections (EFWISG).

 

Sci Total Environ.787:147548; DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147548.

 

Congratulations to Andreia Rebelo et al. for their recent publication involving EFWISG members from different countries and showing the accretion of metal and antibiotic resistance in Enterococcusspp. during the last century.

• Food-to-Humans Bacterial Transmission.
  Antunes P, Novais C, Peixe L. Microbiol Spectr 2020;8(1). doi: 10.1128/microbiolspec.MTBP-0019-2016.

• Discrimination of non-typhoid Salmonella serogroups and serotypes by Fourier
  Transform Infrared Spectroscopy: A comprehensive analysis.
  Campos J, Sousa C, Mourão J, Lopes J, Antunes P, Peixe L. Int J Food Microbiol 2018;285:34-41. doi: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2018.07.005

• Poultry and human infections. Allerberger F. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2016;22(2):101-102.
• Corrigendum to "Poultry and human infections" [Clin Microbiol Infect 22 (2016):
  101-102]. Allerberger F. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2016 May;22(5):e19.

Researchers from EFWISG contributed to the article "Event-based surveillance of food- and waterborne diseases in Europe: urgent inquiries (outbreak alerts) during 2008 to 2013"

Gossner CM, de Jong B, Hoebe CJ, Coulombier D, European Food and Waterborne Diseases Study Group. Euro Surveill. 2015; 20(25):pii=21166

The authors of the paper conclude that the platform to facilitate the timely exchange of information between countries has strengthened the role of the Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses (FWD) network. Combined with outbreak data collected by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the urgent inquiries give a good overview of the outbreaks’ characteristics. Their analysis, however, also showed that the coordination between the risk assessors and risk managers at the EU/EEA level has to improve, particularly when events are reported. They propose to develop cross-sectoral guidelines for outbreak reporting.

ESCMID PGEC Infections in Returning Travellers: There is no Border for Transmission of Infections

Jointly organised with the immunocompromised host group (ESGICH) and the clinical parasitology group (ESGCP)

Istanbul, Turkey, November 2012

Course material in the ESCMID OLL