Population genomics of Escherichia coli in livestock-keeping households across a rapidly developing urban landscape

Dishon Muloi, Bryan A Wee, Deirdre Mcclean, Melissa Ward, Louise Pankhurst, Hang Phan, Alasdair Ivens, Velma Kivali, Alice Kiyonga, Christine Ndinda, Nduhiu Gitahi, Tom Ouko, James M Hassell, Titus Imboma, James Akoko, Maurice K Murungi, Samuel M Njoroge, Patrick Muinde, Yukiko Nakamura, Lorren AlumasaErin Furmaga, Titus Kaitho, Elin Öhgren, Fredrick Amanya, Allan Ogendo, Daniel Wilson, Judy Bettridge, John Kiiru, Catherine Kyobutungi, Cecila Tacoli, Erastus Kang'ethe, Julio Davila, Samuel Kariuki, Timothy Robinson, Jonathan Rushton, Mark Woolhouse*, Eric M. Fèvre*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Quantitative evidence for the risk of zoonoses and the spread of antimicrobial resistance remains lacking. Here, as part of the UrbanZoo project, we sampled Escherichia coli from humans, livestock and peri-domestic wildlife in 99 households across Nairobi, Kenya, to investigate its distribution among host species in this rapidly developing urban landscape. We performed whole-genome sequencing of 1,338 E. coli isolates and found that the diversity and sharing patterns of E. coli were heavily structured by household and strongly shaped by host type. We also found evidence for inter-household and inter-host sharing and, importantly, between humans and animals, although this occurs much less frequently. Resistome similarity was differently distributed across host and household, consistent with being driven by shared exposure to antimicrobials. Our results indicate that a large, epidemiologically structured sampling framework combined with WGS is needed to uncover strain-sharing events among different host populations in complex environments and the major contributing pathways that could ultimately drive the emergence of zoonoses and the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)581-589
JournalNature Microbiology
Volume7
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Mar 2022

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Animals
  • Escherichia coli Infections/epidemiology
  • Escherichia coli/genetics
  • Kenya/epidemiology
  • Livestock
  • Metagenomics

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