Longitudinal study of ESBL-E/K in healthy adults in the Netherlands

In this cohort study, healthy adults from a previous study on diet and ESBL-E. coli (E)/K. pneumoniae (K) carriage conducted in 2015-2017 were enrolled. Carriage of ESBL-E/K was measured at two time points (Q3 and Q4 of 2021), and food consumption habits were studied via questionnaires. In total, 489 persons provided a faecal sample at both time points. Short- and long-read sequencing was performed for participants that carried the same ESBL gene and identical bacterial ST in two or three samples (including the sample from 2015-2017). Of the 34 persons that were ESBL-E/K positive at the final sampling moment (Q4 2021), 15 (44.1%) carried the same ESBL/pAmpC gene in the same E. coli type compared to three months earlier. Six persons carried the same ESBL gene and E. coli ST combination also in 2015-2017.