{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T09:18:12Z","timestamp":1785403092728,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776038400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Department of Comparative, Diagnostic, and Population Medicine at UF-CVM"},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100011508","name":"Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["16262"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["16262"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100011508","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["16262"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["16262"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/058nbms57","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["TropicalMed"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is a leading cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in companion animals. This study characterized 42 UPEC isolates recovered from dogs and cats at the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine Diagnostic Laboratories between 2023 and 2024, focusing on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), virulence gene profiles, biofilm-forming ability, and phylogroup distribution of the isolates. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) showed that 40.48% of the isolates were resistant to at least one of the tested antibiotics, and 9.52% exhibited multidrug resistance (MDR). Phylogroup B2 was predominant (69.05%), and 61.90% of isolates demonstrated strong biofilm formation in artificial human urine. Virulence gene analysis revealed the presence of genes mediating adhesion (fim, pap, sfa), iron acquisition (fyuA, iro), biofilm formation (csg, bcs, pga, ycg\/ymg), motility (fli, mot, flh), and stress response (oxyR, soxR\/S, kat). Multiple plasmids carrying AMR and virulence determinants were also identified. The co-occurrence of the traits underscores the potential for persistent and recurrent infections, which can complicate therapeutic outcomes and facilitate horizontal gene transfer (HGT). The detection of antimicrobial-resistant, highly virulent UPEC strains possessing human UPEC traits in companion animals suggests the risk of zoonotic and reverse-zoonotic transmission, particularly in households with close pet\u2013owner interactions. These findings emphasize the importance of judicious antimicrobial use, routine molecular surveillance, and integrated One Health strategies to mitigate the veterinary and public health threats associated with UPEC infections in companion animals.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/tropicalmed11040101","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T07:29:29Z","timestamp":1776065369000},"page":"101","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Characterization of Antimicrobial Resistance and Potential Zoonotic Risk in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Isolated from Companion Animals, with Genomic Analysis of Virulence Determinants in a Representative Isolate"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Asanka R.","family":"DeZoysa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-6509-5450","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Madeline","family":"Kwan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Comparative, Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2599-7428","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lekshmi K.","family":"Edison","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Comparative, Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rebecca","family":"Barber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Microbiology\/Parasitology\/Serology Laboratory, University of Florida-Veterinary Hospitals, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lisa","family":"Glick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Microbiology\/Parasitology\/Serology Laboratory, University of Florida-Veterinary Hospitals, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2084-5743","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas","family":"Denagamage","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2887-7982","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Subhashinie","family":"Kariyawasam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Comparative, Diagnostic and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Temmerman, R., Berlamont, H., El Garch, F., Rose, M., Simjee, S., Meschi, S., and de Jong, A. 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