Poultry‐origin extraintestinal Escherichia coli strains carrying the traits associated with urinary tract infection, sepsis, meningitis and avian colibacillosis in India

Aim In‐depth ‘One Health’ risk assessment of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) strains carrying the traits of urinary tract infection, sepsis, meningitis and avian colibacillosis in poultry of India. Methods and Results A total of 230 E. coli isolates were recovered from chicken samples representing the different sources (faeces vs caeca), stages (poultry farms vs retails butcher shop) or environments (rural vs urban) of poultry in India. Among all poultry‐origin E. coli isolates, 49 (21·1%) strains were identified as ExPEC possessing multiple virulence determinants regardless of their association with any specific phylogenetic lineages. Of particular, potentially virulent ExPEC pathotypes, that is, uropathogenic E.coli (UPEC, 20·4%), avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC, 34·6%), septicaemia‐associated E. coli (SEPEC, 47·0%) and neonatal meningitis‐causing E.39 coli (NMEC, 2·0%) were also detected among all ExPEC strains. Conclusions Our study is the first to assess ExPEC strains circulating in the different settings of poultry in India and significantly demonstrates their potential ability to cause multiple extraintestinal infections both in humans and animals. Significance and Impact of the Study The data of our study are in favour of the possibility that poultry‐origin putative virulent ExPEC pathotypes consequently constitute a threat risk to ‘One Health’ or for food safety and a great concern for poultry production of India.