Association between antimicrobial usage in livestock and antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli isolates from human urinary tract infections in the Netherlands, 2009-2020.

Background: In the last decade, veterinary antimicrobial usage (AMU) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among indicator bacteria in livestock have decreased substantially in the Netherlands. The extent to which this decrease has affected AMR levels among human infections remains unclear.

Objectives: To assess the association between AMU in livestock and AMR in Escherichia coli isolates from human urinary tract infections (UTIs).

Species-Specific Patterns of Gut Metabolic Modules in Dutch Individuals with Different Dietary Habits.

Diet is an important determinant of the human gut microbiome. Here, we analyzed fecal metagenomes of Dutch adults following omnivorous, pescatarian, vegan, and vegetarian diets. We compared the taxonomic composition of individuals from our study with publicly available gut metagenomes from westernized and non-westernized societies.

Faecal carriage of is low among veterinary healthcare workers in the Netherlands.

Veterinary healthcare workers are in close contact with many different animals and might be at an increased risk of acquiring Clostridioides difficile. In this cross-sectional study, we assessed the prevalence and risk factors of C. difficile carriage in Dutch veterinary healthcare workers.

Zoonotic Pathogens in Eurasian Beavers (Castor fiber) in the Netherlands.

Successful repopulation programs of Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber) have resulted in an increase in beaver populations throughout Europe. This may be of public health relevance because beavers can host multiple zoonotic pathogens. From March 2018 to March 2020, opportunistic testing of dead beavers was performed for hepatitis E virus, orthohantavirus, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Bartonella spp.

Impact of long-term dietary habits on the human gut resistome in the Dutch population.

The human gut microbiome plays a central role in health and disease. Environmental factors, such as lifestyle and diet, are known to shape the gut microbiome as well as the reservoir of resistance genes that these microbes harbour; the resistome. In this study we assessed whether long-term dietary habits within a single geographical region (the Netherlands) impact the human gut resistome.

ESBL/pAmpC-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae carriage among veterinary healthcare workers in the Netherlands.

Background: Animals are a reservoir for ESBL/pAmpC-producing Escherichia coli/Klebsiella pneumoniae (ESBL-E/K). We investigated the association between occupational contact with different types of animals and the prevalence of ESBL-E/K carriage among veterinary healthcare workers, assessed molecular characteristics of ESBL-E/K, and followed-up on the ESBL-E/K carriage status of participants and their household members.

Methods: Participants completed a questionnaire about their contact with animals at work and at home, health status, travel behaviour and hygiene, and sent in a faecal sample which was tested for the presence of ESBL-E/K.

Gastric acid suppression, lifestyle factors and intestinal carriage of ESBL and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales: a nationwide population-based study.

Background: Gastric acid-suppressive therapy has been suggested to increase the risk for intestinal carriage of MDR Enterobacterales, but there is scarce community-based evidence substantiating this risk.

Objectives: To investigate if acid-suppressant use is associated with a risk of intestinal carriage of ESBL and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E) in the open population, and to assess possible modifying factors.

Methods: Within the framework of a nationwide seroprevalence study, we identified a population-based cross-sectional cohort comprising 2746 adults (≥18 years), who provided stool specimens between February 2016 and June 2017.

Prolonged carriage of (livestock-associated) MRSA in individuals without professional livestock contact.

Objectives: To investigate prolonged carriage of MRSA in adults from the general population living in a livestock-dense area, using WGS.

Methods: A cross-sectional study during 2014-15 among 2492 adults without professional livestock contact identified 14 (0.6%) nasal MRSA carriers, 10 of which carried livestock-associated (LA)-MRSA of multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) complex (MC) 398.

Do vegetarians less frequently carry ESBL/pAmpC-producing Escherichia coli/Klebsiella pneumoniae compared with non-vegetarians?

Background: ESBL and plasmid-mediated AmpC (pAmpC)-producing Enterobacteriaceae are frequently found on meat products in Dutch retail, especially on poultry.

Objectives: We investigated whether vegetarians are at lower risk of carrying ESBL/pAmpC-producing Escherichia coli/Klebsiella pneumoniae (ESBL-E/K) compared with persons who consume meat.

Methods: Vegetarians, pescatarians (vegetarians who eat fish) and non-vegetarians (persons who eat meat at least three times per week) were asked to send in a faecal sample and a questionnaire.

Attributable sources of community-acquired carriage of Escherichia coli containing β-lactam antibiotic resistance genes: a population-based modelling study.

Background: Extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC), plasmid-mediated AmpC-producing E coli (pAmpC-EC), and other bacteria are resistant to important β-lactam antibiotics. ESBL-EC and pAmpC-EC are increasingly reported in animals, food, the environment, and community-acquired and health-care-associated human infections. These infections are usually preceded by asymptomatic carriage, for which attributions to animal, food, environmental, and human sources remain unquantified.

Competition between Escherichia coli Populations with and without Plasmids Carrying a Gene Encoding Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase in the Broiler Chicken Gut.

Extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase (ESBL)/AmpC-producing strains are widely found in isolates from broiler feces, largely due to the presence of the gene on IncI1 plasmids. Plasmid carriage is theorized to cause fitness loss and thus should decrease under conditions of reduced antibiotic use. However, studies showed plasmid carriage to increase in the absence of antimicrobials, due to plasmid conjugation.

Longitudinal study of ESBL Escherichia coli carriage on an organic broiler farm.

Objectives: To determine the molecular characteristics of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-E) collected during a longitudinal study on an organic broiler farm in order to investigate clonal expansion and horizontal gene transfer.

Methods: Isolates were obtained from a longitudinal study performed previously on an organic broiler fattening farm. Samples from individually followed-up broilers, the broiler house, the transport van and persons that took the samples, taken at several timepoints (days 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 42 and 70) within a production round and during the consecutive one (days 1, 2, 3 and 70), had been investigated for the occurrence of ESBL-E.

Dynamics of cefotaxime resistant Escherichia coli in broilers in the first week of life.

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing E. coli (ESBL-E) are wide spread among broilers, with the highest prevalence among individual birds at broiler production farms. Previous research describes low prevalences among individual birds at arrival at the farm (below 30%), and a rapid increase up to 100% within the first week.

Correction: Time to acquire and lose carriership of ESBL/pAmpC producing E. coli in humans in the Netherlands.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Time to acquire and lose carriership of ESBL/pAmpC producing E. coli in humans in the Netherlands.

A subset of the study population from a cross-sectional study of carriership of ESBL/pAmpC-producing E. coli (ESBL-E) in the general population was followed up by five successive samples over an approximate half year period, leading to six samples in 333 persons. Fecal samples were cultured and analyzed for the presence of E.

Molecular relatedness of ESBL/AmpC-producing Escherichia coli from humans, animals, food and the environment: a pooled analysis.

Background: In recent years, ESBL/AmpC-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL/AmpC-EC) have been isolated with increasing frequency from animals, food, environmental sources and humans. With incomplete and scattered evidence, the contribution to the human carriage burden from these reservoirs remains unclear.

Objectives: To quantify molecular similarities between different reservoirs as a first step towards risk attribution.

Extended-Spectrum Cephalosporin-Resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg Strains, the Netherlands(1).

Extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg strains (JF6X01.0022/XbaI.0251, JF6X01.

Ten years later: still a high prevalence of MRSA in slaughter pigs despite a significant reduction in antimicrobial usage in pigs the Netherlands.

Objectives: In 2005, 39% of pigs and 81% of the slaughter batches at Dutch slaughterhouses were MRSA positive. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether the 50% reduction of antimicrobial usage in finishing pigs in 2014 compared with 2009 in the Netherlands has led to a lower MRSA prevalence among Dutch slaughter pigs.

Methods: Nasal swabs from eight slaughter batches of on average 10 animals at seven slaughterhouses were taken and cultured using method 1, which was used in 2005, and method 2, using high-salt pre-enrichment.

The IncI1 plasmid carrying the blaCTX-M-1 gene persists in in vitro culture of a Escherichia coli strain from broilers.

Background: Commensal bacteria are a reservoir for antimicrobial-resistance genes. In the Netherlands, bacteria producing Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBL) are found on chicken-meat and in the gut of broilers at a high prevalence and the predominant ESBL-gene is the bla(CTX-M-1) located on IncI1 plasmids. We aim to determine the fitness costs of this plasmid for the bacterium.

Presence of ESBL/AmpC-producing Escherichia coli in the broiler production pyramid: a descriptive study.

Broilers and broiler meat products are highly contaminated with extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) or plasmid-mediated AmpC beta-lactamase producing Escherichia coli and are considered to be a source for human infections. Both horizontal and vertical transmission might play a role in the presence of these strains in broilers. As not much is known about the presence of these strains in the whole production pyramid, the epidemiology of ESBL/AmpC-producing E.

Serum- and animal tissue-free medium for transport and growth of Helicobacter pylori.

The important human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori is the subject of many studies, and as a consequence it is frequently being transported between national and international laboratories. Unfortunately, common bacterial growth and transport media contain serum- and animal tissue-derived materials, which carry the risk of spreading infectious diseases. We have therefore developed a growth and transport medium for H.