Resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporin in Enterobacteriaceae is increasingly prevalent in South Korea. This study aims to explore the distribution of AmpC genes in Proteus mirabilis isolated from stray and hospital-admitted companion animals in South Korea. AmpC β-lactamases hold clinical significance due to its potential to facilitate antimicrobial resistance to cefoxitin, cefazolin, and most penicillins. A total of 163 bacterial isolates belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family were collected from dogs (n = 158) and cats (n=5). Of them, 134 isolates were from hospital-admitted animals, while 29 isolates from stray animals. Boronic acid tests and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were conducted for an initial screening to detect AmpC β-lactamase resistant P. mirabilis. Gene-specific PCRs were conducted to identify the type of AmpC genes, which include six groups (MOXM, CITM, DHAM, ACCM, EBCM, and FOXM), in the resistant isolates. The boronic acid disk tests revealed 45 (27.6%) positive isolates out of 163 isolates tested. Of these 45 isolates, six were determined to harbor the EBCM gene, 13 for CITM, one for FOXM, and one for DHAM by single detection PCR. No isolates carried for ACCM or MOXM. Thus, a total of 21 out of 163 isolates (12.9%) were demonstrated to possess AmpC genes. No isolates contain more than one group of AmpC gene family. A significantly higher percentage of P. mirabilis was found to possess AmpC genes compared to past studies. Therefore, the increasing trend in antimicrobial resistance in P. mirabilis indicates a dire need to monitor antimicrobial prescription in the veterinary field.

Many β-lactam antimicrobials, including cephalosporins, have been used in both veterinary and human medicine in the treatment of zoonotic and infectious diseases. Especially, third-generation cephalosporins such as ceftiofur have been approved for systemic use in food-producing animals, which has resulted in the emergence of β-lactamase genes. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of β-lactamase-producing E. coli isolated from commercial layers and characterized their antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes. Among the 85 cefotaxime (CTX)-resistant E. coli, all isolates showed resistance to at least one antimicrobial, and the rates of resistance to nalidixic acid, cephalothin, ampicillin, and cefazolin were more than 50.0%. In particular, 28 isolates were identified as containing b-lactamase genes. The extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and plasmid-mediated AmpC genes blaCTX-M-1, blaCTX-M-14, blaCTX-M-15, and blaCMY-2 were detected in 1, 6, 5, and 4 isolates, respectively. The non-ESBL/pAmpC gene blaTEM-1 was detected in 12 isolates. The distribution of antimicrobial resistance genes in 28 β-lactamase-producing E. coli was as follows: aac(3)-II (64.3%), sul2 (32.1%), tetA (28.6%), sul1 (25.0%), cmlA gene (25.0%), and tetB (14.3%). In total, 6 virulence genes (astA, eaeA, escV, fimH, iucC, and papC) were also identified and the rates in virulence gene were as below: fimH (92.9%), iucC (25.0%), astA (21.4%), papC (10.7%), eaeA (7.1%) and escV (7.1%). Our findings suggest that antimicrobials used in commercial layer must be regulated in Korea, and comprehensive surveillance is necessary to prevent the dissemination of resistant isolates.

This study was designed to assess the possibility of using medicinal plant extracts as β-lactamase inhibitors to control antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The susceptibilities of S. aureus ATCC 15564 (SAWT), ciprofloxacininduced S. aureus ATCC 15564 (SACIP), oxacillin-induced S. aureus ATCC 15564 (SAOXA), and clinically-isolated S. aureus CCARM 3008 (SACLI) to ampicillin were determined in the absence and presence of medicinal plant extracts, including Cleyera japonica (CJ), Carpinus laxiflora (CL), Euphorbia helioscopia (EH), Euscaphis japonica (EJ), Oenothera erythrosepala (OE), and Rosa multiflora (RM). The phenotypic change in the clear inhibition zones around ampicillin disc was observed for SAWT, SACIP, and SAOXA, indicating the production of ampicillinase. Compared to the controls, the MICs of ampicillin against SAWT, SACIP, and SAOXA were decreased from 4 to 0.5 ㎍/mL in the presence of CL, 16 to 4 ㎍/mL in the presence of RM, and 32 to 2 ㎍/mL in the presence of CL, EH, and RM, respectively. The medicinal plant extracts, OE, EJ, and CL, effectively inhibited the β-lactamase activities of SAWT (78%), SACIP (57%), and SAOXA (76%) when compared to the control. This results suggest that the medicinal plant extracts can be used as BLIs to control the antibiotic-resistant S. aureus.