Ready-to-eat street food: a potential source for dissemination of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli epidemic clones in Quito, Ecuador

Ready-to-eat food contamination with ESBL-producing Escherichia coli is a growing health concern. Some of these strains also are epidemic clones and can cause community-associated infections that are difficult to treat. In this study, the occurrence of ESBL-producing E. coli contaminated ready-to-eat street food in Quito, Ecuador was evaluated. In total, 150 samples were collected randomly in the most crowded sites of the city. In all, 34 samples (34/150; 22 center dot 6%) were positive for total thermotolerant (44 center dot 5 degrees C) coliforms resistant to cefotaxime. MALDI-TOF analysis identified that the E. coli was found in 20 food samples (20/34; 59%). ESBL gene bla(CTX-M-55) was identified in nine isolates, bla(CTX-M-15) in six isolates, bla(CTX-M-14) in two isolates, and one isolate each harboured bla(CTX-M-24), bla(CTX-M-65), bla(CTX-M-55) and bla(CTX-M-8). Phylogenetic groups like A and B1 were the most common, followed by groups D and B2. MLST analysis identified 12 different sequence types (STs), the most common was ST162. Recognized epidemic clonal groups ST410, ST131 and ST744 were encountered. Ready-to-eat street food is a potential way of spreading ESBL-producing E. coli epidemic clones in Quito, Ecuador. Significance and Impact of the Study This study identified ESBL-producing Escherichia coli epidemic clones: ST131, ST410 and ST744 in ready-to-eat street food samples. Street food is a possible way to spread harm multidrug-resistant (MDR) E. coli strains in the community. Studies to identify the contamination sources of this kind of food are needed to tackle MDR E. coli dissemination.