Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile of Canine Isolates from a Multicentric Study in Romania.

Treating infections caused by is increasingly difficult due to high antibiotic resistance, materialized through the presence of multiple resistance strains, as well as due to rapid development of resistance throughout treatment. The present survey was conducted to investigate the antibiotic susceptibility profile of pathogens in two University Veterinary hospitals from different geographical regions of Romania (i.e., Southwest Timișoara county and Northeast Iași county) involved in superficial canine infections. A total of 142 swab specimens were collected from dogs with superficial infections (superficial skin infections, otitis externa, and perianal abscess) to assess the presence of  , based on phenotypic and molecular characterization. According to their confirmed morphological and molecular features, 58 samples (40.84%; 58/142) were positive for   (according to their confirmed morphological and molecular features). Antibiotic susceptibility testing for 12 antibiotics was conducted using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Drug resistance was observed in the case of all tested antibiotics. The susceptibility rate of strains that were tested in this study was in the following order: ceftazidime (53.44%; 31/58), followed by aztreonam (51.72%; 30/58), amikacin (44.82%; 26/58), azithromycin (41.37%; 24/58), gentamicin (37.93%; 22/58), cefepime (36.20%; 21/58), meropenem (25.86%; 13/58), piperacillin-tazobactam (25.86%; 13/58), imipenem (22.41%; 13/158), ciprofloxacin (17.24%; 10/58), tobramycin (8.62; 5/58), and polymyxin B (1.72; 1/58). The results highlight the importance of antibiotic susceptibility testing in   isolates from dogs with superficial infections to use an adequate treatment plan to manage the skin condition and other pathologies (otitis externa and perianal abscesses).