Research Note: Longitudinal fecal shedding patterns and characterization of Salmonella enterica and mcr-positive Escherichia coli in meat-type ducks raised in an open-house system

This longitudinal study aimed to determine the fecal shedding pattern and characterize Salmonella enterica and mcr-positive Escherichia coli from meat-type ducks raised in an open-house system in Thailand. Fecal samples (n = 1,475) were collected from ducks over a 6-month period. Overall, the detection rate of S. enterica was 5.4% and the highest fecal shedding rate was noted in 4-day-old ducklings (28.8%). Then, S. enterica shedding decreased to 10, 8, 4.7, and 0.7% when ducks reached the ages of 10 d, 17 d, 3 wk, and 4 wk, respectively. Seventy-nine isolates were recovered and Salmonella Amsterdam was the predominant serovar (79.7%). With respect to colistin-resistant E. coli, mcr-positive E. coli (colistin MICs = 8–16 μg/mL) was noted in ducks at the ages of 16 wk (6.0%) and 24 wk (18.7%). mcr-1 was the most common (75.7%), followed by mcr-3 (13.5%), and mcr-1 and mcr-3 co-carriage (10.8%). Most S. enterica isolates were susceptible to antibiotics and multidrug resistant (MDR) was found in only a single isolate. However, as many as 89.2% of mcr-positive E. coli were defined as MDR. Almost all S. enterica isolates (97.5–100%) carried several virulence genes involving in invasion, intracellular survival, and iron metabolism. Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis revealed that several mcr-positive E. coli isolates were clonally unrelated. Conjugative transfer of mcr-1, mcr-3 as well as co-transfer of mcr-1 and mcr-3 was observed with the frequencies ranging from 10(−8) to 10(−3). All mcr-1 resided on IncI2, while mcr-3 was associated with IncF and IncX4 plasmids. Our study provides the evidence of fecal shedding pattern of S. enterica and mcr-positive E. coli from meat-type ducks, highlighting the importance of duck farming in the dissemination of pathogenic bacteria that are potentially hazardous to human.