Colostrum as a source of ESBL-Escherichia coli in feces of newborn calves

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 9929
• Main Authors: Bachmann, Lisa, Weber, Laura, Liermann, Wendy, Hammon, Harald M., Delling, Cora, Dengler, Franziska, Schaufler, Katharina, Schwabe, Michael, Eger, Elias, Becker, Karsten, Schütz, Anne, Homeier-Bachmann, Timo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 30.04.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/114/739; 631/208/514/1948; 631/326/22/1434; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; beta-Lactamases - genetics; beta-Lactamases - metabolism; Cattle; Colostrum; Colostrum - microbiology; Dairy farms; E coli; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli - isolation & purification; Escherichia coli Infections - microbiology; Escherichia coli Infections - veterinary; Farm buildings; Feces; Feces - microbiology; Feeding equipment; Female; Genomes; Harvesting; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hygiene; Male; Milking; multidisciplinary; Neonates; Nucleotide sequence; Sanitation; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sequence analysis
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60461-4

The aim of the present study was to determine if colostrum and the equipment for harvesting and feeding colostrum are sources of fecal ESBL/AmpC-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL/AmpC- E. coli ) in calves. Therefore, 15 male calves fed with pooled colostrum on a dairy farm and held individually in an experimental barn, the colostrum pool and the equipment for harvesting and feeding colostrum were sampled and analyzed for the occurrence of ESBL/AmpC- E. coli. The ESBL-AmpC- E. coli suspicious isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequence analysis . Forty-three of 45 fecal samples were tested positive for ESBL/AmpC- E. coli . In the colostrum sample and in the milking pot, we also found ESBL/AmpC- E. coli. All 45 E. coli isolates were ESBL-producers, mainly commensal sequence type (ST) 10, but also human-extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli ST131 and ST117 were found. The clonal identity of six fecal isolates with the ESBL- E. coli isolate from the colostrum and of five fecal isolates with the strain from the milking pot demonstrates that the hygiene of colostrum or the colostrum equipment can play a significant role in the spread of ESBL- E. coli . Effective sanitation procedures for colostrum harvesting and feeding equipment are crucial to reduce the ESBL- E. coli shedding of neonatal dairy calves.