Research Article Extra-Intestinal Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Meat Giorgia Caruso, 1 Anna Giammanco, 1 Cinzia Cardamone, 2 Giuseppa Oliveri, 2 Chiara Mascarella, 1 Giuseppina Capra, 1 and Teresa Fasciana 1 1 Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother & Child Care, University of Palermo, Italy 2 Institute for Experimental Veterinary Medicine of Sicily, Palermo, Italy Correspondence should be addressed to Teresa Fasciana; teresa.fasciana@virgilio.it Received 26 June 2018; Revised 17 September 2018; Accepted 28 October 2018; Published 18 November 2018 Guest Editor: Maria E. Potes Copyright © 2018 Giorgia Caruso et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Extra-intestinal E. coli are emerging as a global threat due to their difusion as opportunistic pathogens and, above all, to their wide set of antibiotic resistance determinants. Tere are still many gaps in our knowledge of their origin and spread pathways, although food animals have been adjudicated vehicles for passing mult-drug resistant bacteria to humans. Tis study analyzed 46 samples of meat purchased from retail stores in Palermo in order to obtain quinolone-resistant E. coli isolates. Strains were screened for their phylogenetic groups, ST131-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and then typed by ERIC-PCR. Teir set of virulence factors, namely, kpsMII, papA, sfaS, focG, iutA, papC, hlyD, and afa genes, were investigated and their fuoroquinolone- resistance determinants evaluated. Te data obtained show a dramatically high prevalence of multidrug resistance patterns in the Palermo area, with 28% of the isolates having virulence factor genes typical of ExPEC strains. No B2 group or ST131 strains were detected. Moreover, 20% of our isolates showed positivity to all the plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) determinants, showing a potential to transfer these genes among other bacteria. Terefore, these data underline the possibility that food animals and, specifcally, poultry in particular may be a signifcant source of resistant bacterial strains, posing a potential zoonotic risk. 1. Introduction Te outburst of the antibiotic resistance phenomenon at global level has occurred due to the excessive and inap- propriate use of antimicrobials in various felds, both in human medicine and in veterinary and zootechnical settings, strongly accelerating the development and difusion of resis- tant strains. For instance, intensive livestock farming prac- tices that compel farmers to rely more heavily on antibiotics have determined a dramatic increase in the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in farm animals and food [1, 2]. Quinolones in particular have long been the main choice of antimicrobial agent for the treatment of various Gram-negative infections, both in human and in veterinary medicine, ostensibly increasing the rate of resistant isolates all over the world [3]. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) has signalled quinolones to be critically important antibiotics, thus recommending a more prudent use of them [4]. In fact, since the discovery of the frst plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) gene in 1998 [5], many other resistance mechanisms have been added [6]. Nontarget, commensal enteric bacteria are also exposed to this wide variety of antimicrobial substances, leading to an increase in resistance genes and, potentially, their horizontal transfer. Hence these bacteria may function as a reservoir of resistance though largely ignored [7]. According to the EFSA and ECDC report [8], E. coli is an excellent indicator of resistance level among Enterobacteria in breeding animals, as it is widespread in farm environments. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that E. coli strains may be conveyed through food and, directly or more likely indirectly, they fnd their way to humans, account- ing for a subset of resistant Extra-intestinal Pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) [9–11]. Indeed, ExPEC increasingly represent an emerging category of pathogens that cause illness in immunocompetent subjects both in nosocomial and in com- munity settings. ExPEC are in fact implicated in a wide range of host diseases and are associated with the vast majority of Hindawi BioMed Research International Volume 2018, Article ID 8714975, 7 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/8714975