Escherichia coli of human and avian origin: detection of clonal groups associated with fluoroquinolone and multidrug resistance in Italy

Objectives: Poultry have been suggested as a reservoir for fluoroquinolone-resistant extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC). Our aim was to investigate whether genotypes associated with ciprofloxacin and multidrug resistance were shared among human and avian E. coli. Methods: We compared 277 human ExPEC isolates from urinary tract infection (UTI) and sepsis (142 susceptible and 135 ciprofloxacin resistant) and 101 avian isolates (68 susceptible and 33 ciprofloxacin resistant) by antimicrobial resistance phenotype, phylogenetic group and multilocus sequence type (ST). Results: Most ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates from both human and avian sources were multidrug resistant. Human…