Characterization of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated in eastern China

•Serogroup, integrons, MDR and biofilms determined for 243 E. coli isolates from China.•O2 and O78 are predominant serogroups, with O1 serogrop having low incidence.•fimC and ompA were detected in > 95% and Class I integron in > 77% of isolates.•Biofilm forming ability is related to multiple drug resistance in 55 strains.•MDR is common and related to biofilms, virulence genes and Class I integron.

In order to investigate the biological characteristics of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) isolated in eastern China, a total of 243 isolates were isolated from diseased poultry on different farms during the period from 2007 to 2014. These isolates were characterized for serogroups (polymerase chain reaction and agglutination), the presence of virulence-associated genes (fimC, iss, ompA, fyuA, stx2f, iroC, iucD, hlyE, tsh, cvaC, irp2, and papC) and class I integrons (polymerase chain reaction), drug susceptibilities (disk diffusion method) and the biofilm-forming abilities (semi-quantitative method). The results showed that the most predominant serogroups were O78 (87 isolates, 35.8%) and O2 (35 isolates, 14.4%). Gene profiling found that fimC and ompA were frequently distributed among the isolates and that 77.4% of the isolates were positive for class 1 integrons. Overall, isolates displayed resistance to tetracycline (97.5%), nalidixic acid (82.3%), ampicillin (81.1%), sulphafurazole (80.7%), streptomycin (79.0%), trimethoprim (78.2%) and cotrimoxazole (78.2%). Multiple-drug resistance was exhibited in 80.3% of the isolates, and the presence of class 1 integrons is associated with multidrug resistance. Finally, 151 isolates had the ability to form biofilms in vitro, and drug resistance seemed relative to biofilm-forming abilities.