Detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. infections in rural Thailand
Florfenicol (Ff) is an antimicrobial agent belonging to the class amphenicol used for the treatment of bacterial infections in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture (animal farming). It inhibits protein synthesis. Ff is an analog of chloramphenicol, an amphenicol compound on the WHO essential medicine...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/179005 |
| _version_ | 1811697663457886208 |
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| author | Tan, Bernice Siu Yan Mohan, Lalit Watthanaworawit, Wanitda Ngamprasertchai, Thundon Nosten, Francois H. Ling, Clare Bifani, Pablo |
| author2 | Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) |
| author_facet | Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) Tan, Bernice Siu Yan Mohan, Lalit Watthanaworawit, Wanitda Ngamprasertchai, Thundon Nosten, Francois H. Ling, Clare Bifani, Pablo |
| author_sort | Tan, Bernice Siu Yan |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Florfenicol (Ff) is an antimicrobial agent belonging to the class amphenicol used for the treatment of bacterial infections in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture (animal farming). It inhibits protein synthesis. Ff is an analog of chloramphenicol, an amphenicol compound on the WHO essential medicine list that is used for the treatment of human infections. Due to the extensive usage of Ff in animal farming, zoonotic pathogens have developed resistance to this antimicrobial agent. There are numerous reports of resistance genes from organisms infecting or colonizing animals found in human pathogens, suggesting a possible exchange of genetic materials. One of these genes is floR, a gene that encodes for an efflux pump that removes Ff from bacterial cells, conferring resistance against amphenicol, and is often associated with mobile genetic elements and other resistant determinants. In this study, we analyzed bacterial isolates recovered in rural Thailand from patients and environmental samples collected for disease monitoring. Whole genome sequencing was carried out for all the samples collected. Speciation and genome annotation was performed revealing the presence of the floR gene in the bacterial genome. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined for Ff and chloramphenicol. Chromosomal and phylogenetic analyses were performed to investigate the acquisition pattern of the floR gene. The presence of a conserved floR gene in unrelated Acinetobacter spp. isolated from human bacterial infections and environmental samples was observed, suggesting multiple and independent inter-species genetic exchange of drug-resistant determinants. The floR was found to be in the variable region containing various mobile genetic elements and other antibiotic resistance determinants; however, no evidence of HGT could be found. The floR gene identified in this study is chromosomal for all isolates. The study highlights a plausible impact of antimicrobials used in veterinary settings on human health. Ff shares cross-resistance with chloramphenicol, which is still in use in several countries. Furthermore, by selecting for floR-resistance genes, we may be selecting for and facilitating the zoonotic and reverse zoonotic exchange of other flanking resistance markers between human and animal pathogens or commensals with detrimental public health consequences. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:58:50Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/179005 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:58:50Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1790052024-07-21T15:38:06Z Detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. infections in rural Thailand Tan, Bernice Siu Yan Mohan, Lalit Watthanaworawit, Wanitda Ngamprasertchai, Thundon Nosten, Francois H. Ling, Clare Bifani, Pablo Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Acinetobacterspp Chloramphenicol Florfenicol (Ff) is an antimicrobial agent belonging to the class amphenicol used for the treatment of bacterial infections in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture (animal farming). It inhibits protein synthesis. Ff is an analog of chloramphenicol, an amphenicol compound on the WHO essential medicine list that is used for the treatment of human infections. Due to the extensive usage of Ff in animal farming, zoonotic pathogens have developed resistance to this antimicrobial agent. There are numerous reports of resistance genes from organisms infecting or colonizing animals found in human pathogens, suggesting a possible exchange of genetic materials. One of these genes is floR, a gene that encodes for an efflux pump that removes Ff from bacterial cells, conferring resistance against amphenicol, and is often associated with mobile genetic elements and other resistant determinants. In this study, we analyzed bacterial isolates recovered in rural Thailand from patients and environmental samples collected for disease monitoring. Whole genome sequencing was carried out for all the samples collected. Speciation and genome annotation was performed revealing the presence of the floR gene in the bacterial genome. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined for Ff and chloramphenicol. Chromosomal and phylogenetic analyses were performed to investigate the acquisition pattern of the floR gene. The presence of a conserved floR gene in unrelated Acinetobacter spp. isolated from human bacterial infections and environmental samples was observed, suggesting multiple and independent inter-species genetic exchange of drug-resistant determinants. The floR was found to be in the variable region containing various mobile genetic elements and other antibiotic resistance determinants; however, no evidence of HGT could be found. The floR gene identified in this study is chromosomal for all isolates. The study highlights a plausible impact of antimicrobials used in veterinary settings on human health. Ff shares cross-resistance with chloramphenicol, which is still in use in several countries. Furthermore, by selecting for floR-resistance genes, we may be selecting for and facilitating the zoonotic and reverse zoonotic exchange of other flanking resistance markers between human and animal pathogens or commensals with detrimental public health consequences. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Published version The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Start-up grant (R-571-000-040-733) awarded to PB, National University of Singapore, and Core Funding from IDLabs, A*STAR by TF IPC Ltd under the grant titled \u201CTemasek Foundation Infectious Diseases Programme for Surveillance and Diseases X Resilience\u201D; and was funded in whole, or in part, by the Wellcome Trust (220211). 2024-07-16T01:15:40Z 2024-07-16T01:15:40Z 2024 Journal Article Tan, B. S. Y., Mohan, L., Watthanaworawit, W., Ngamprasertchai, T., Nosten, F. H., Ling, C. & Bifani, P. (2024). Detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. infections in rural Thailand. Frontiers in Microbiology, 15, 1368813-. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1368813 1664-302X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/179005 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1368813 38765680 2-s2.0-85193469229 15 1368813 en R-571-000-040-733 Frontiers in Microbiology © 2024 Tan, Mohan, Watthanaworawit, Ngamprasertchai, Nosten, Ling and Bifani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Acinetobacterspp Chloramphenicol Tan, Bernice Siu Yan Mohan, Lalit Watthanaworawit, Wanitda Ngamprasertchai, Thundon Nosten, Francois H. Ling, Clare Bifani, Pablo Detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. infections in rural Thailand |
| title | Detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. infections in rural Thailand |
| title_full | Detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. infections in rural Thailand |
| title_fullStr | Detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. infections in rural Thailand |
| title_full_unstemmed | Detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. infections in rural Thailand |
| title_short | Detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic Acinetobacter spp. infections in rural Thailand |
| title_sort | detection of florfenicol resistance in opportunistic acinetobacter spp infections in rural thailand |
| topic | Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Acinetobacterspp Chloramphenicol |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/179005 |
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