Head, Clinical Microbiology

Areas of Interest:

Diagnostic assays, Antimicrobial resistance, Infectious disease investigation, Rhodococcus equi

Rhodococcus  equi is a facultative intracellular bacterium causing pyogranulomatous pneumonia with abscessation in young foals as well as opportunistic pyogranulomatous infections in humans and some other animals such as ruminants, pigs, cats and dogs. R. equi can also cause abdominal abscesses or septic arthritis with or without pulmonary disease in foals. My laboratory has recently focused on increased resistance to rifampin and macrolides, which are considered as mainstay dual treatment against R. equi infections in foals.  In a new study containing necropsied foals with rhodococcosis, we confirmed this trend of increased dual resistance in necropsied foals treated with mainstay dual therapy. In addition, we demonstrated that R. equi isolates with pREerm46 significantly increased MICs for trimethoprim- sulfamethoxazole and doxycycline in addition to macrolides.  Despite dual therapy, increased resistance against rifampin and macrolides warrants evaluation of new treatment protocols in foals. Currently we are investigating some other drugs in laboratory conditions against rifampin- and macrolides-resistant R. equi isolates.

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Selected References:

1- Antimicrobial resistance spectrum conferred by pREerm46 of emerging macrolide (multidrug)-resistant Rhodococcus equi. Erol E., Scortti M., Fortner J., Patel M., Vazquez-Boland JA. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, (Impact Factor: 5.897) Accepted. 2021

2- Identification of ruminant origin Group B Rotavirus associated with diarrhea outbreaks in foals. Uprety T, Sreenivasan CC, Hause BM, Li G, Odemuyiwa SO, Locke S, Morgan J, Zeng L, Gilsenan WF, Slovis N, Metcalfe L, Carter CN, Timoney P, Horohov D, Wang D, Erol E, Adam E, Li F.  Viruses (Impact Factor : 3.816). Accepted. 2021

3- Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Rhodococcus equi from necropsied foals with rhodococcosis. E. Erol, S. Locke, A. Saied, M. Cruz Penn, J. Smith and C. Carter. Veterinary Microbiology. (Impact Factor: 3.293) 2020 Mar;242:108568.

4- Development and evaluation of a one-step real-time multiplex TaqMan® RT-qPCR assay for the detection and genotyping of equine G3 and G14 rotaviruses in fecal samples. Mariano Carossino; Maria Barrandeguy; Erdal Erol; Yanqiu Li; Udeni Balasuriya*, Virology Journal (Impact factor: 2.468), 2019 Apr 25;16(1):49. doi: 10.1186/s12985-019-1149-51

5- Temporal trends and predictors of antimicrobial resistance amongStaphylococcus spp. isolated from canine specimens submitted to a diagnostic laboratory. Conner JG, Smith J, Erol E, Locke S, Phillips E, Carter CN, Odoi A*. PLoS One (Impact factor: 2.468), 2018 Aug 1;13(8):e0200719. 

6- Emergence of resistance to macrolides and rifampicin in clinical isolates of Rhodococcus equi from foals in central Kentucky, USA: 1995 to 2017.  Laura Huber, Steeve Giguere, Nathan Slovis, Craig Carter, Bonnie Barr, Noah Cohen*, Justine Elam, Erdal Erol, Stephan Locke, Erica Phillips, and Jacqueline Smith. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy (Impact factor: 4.715), 63 (1), e01714-18

7- Elevated serum amyloid A levels in cases of aborted equine fetuses due to fetal and placental infections. Erol E, Jackson C, Horohov D, Locke S, Smith J, Carter C. Theriogenology. (Impact Factor: 2.094) 86(4); 971-975. 2016 

8- Beta-hemolytic Streptococcus dysgalactiae strains isolated from horses are a genetically distinct population within the Streptococcus dysgalactiae taxon.  Pinho MD, Erol E, Ribeiro-Gonçalves B, Mendes CI, Carriço JA, Matos SC, Preziuso S, Luebke-Becker A, Wieler LH, Melo-Cristino J, Ramirez M. Sci Rep. (Impact Factor: 4.379) 2016 Aug 17;6:31736. doi: 10.1038/srep31736.

9- Antimicrobial susceptibility of Rhodococcus equi of animal origin. Anne Riesenberg, Andrea T. Feßler, Erdal Erol, Ellen Prenger-Berninghoff, Yvonne Stamm, Urte Menke, Anton Heusinger,  Dieter Klarmann,  Stefan Schwarz,  Christiane Werckenthin  J. Antimicrob  Chemother. (Impact Factor: 5.439) 2014 Apr;69(4):1045-9.