Fluoroquinolones are commonly used to treat gastroenteritis caused by Campylobacter species. Domestically acquired fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter infection has been documented recently in the United States. It has been proposed that the increase in resistance is due, in part, to the use of fluoroquinolones in poultry. In separate experiments, the effects of sarafloxacin and enrofloxacin treatment of Campylobacter jejuni-infected chickens on the development of ciprofloxacin resistance were measured. Fecal samples were collected before and after treatment and were cultured for C. jejuni. When enrofloxacin or sarafloxacin was used at US Food and Drug Administration-approved doses in broiler chickens, resistance developed rapidly and persisted in C. jejuni. MICs of ciprofloxacin increased from a base of 0.25 microg/mL to 32 microg/mL within the 5-day treatment time frame. These results show that the use of these drugs in chickens rapidly selects for resistant Campylobacter organisms and may result in less effective fluoroquinolone therapy for cases of human campylobacteriosis acquired from exposure to contaminated chicken.

The performance of the Etest and agar dilution for in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of Campylobacter spp. was evaluated using a quality control strain Campylobactor jejuni ATCC 33560, and 81 C. jejuni and 54 Campylobacter coli isolates recovered from retail raw meats. Seven antimicrobial agents: chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, erythromycin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid and tetracycline, were tested using the two methods, whereas azithromycin was tested using the Etest only. The correlation between the Etest and agar dilution MICs varied greatly depending on the antimicrobial agents tested. The overall agreement of MICs (+/-1 log(2) dilution) between the two methods was 61.9%, ranging from 21.4% for nalidixic acid to 92.6% for gentamicin. MICs obtained using the Etest were generally lower than those by agar dilution regardless of the species of organism tested. MIC(50) and/or MIC(90) values were at least one dilution lower for the Etest than for agar dilution when testing chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, erythromycin and nalidixic acid. Based on the agar dilution MICs, the resistant rate of the 135 Campylobacter isolates was highest for tetracycline (82.2%), followed by doxycycline (78.5%), nalidixic acid (21.5%), ciprofloxacin (20.7%) and erythromycin (17.0%). None of the isolates demonstrated resistance to chloramphenicol or gentamicin. The study indicated that the Etest results were not in complete agreement with the agar dilution test. Although the Etest has been proven to be a satisfactory testing method, its use for Campylobacter susceptibility testing requires further standardization. The study also showed that C. jejuni and C. coli isolates resistant to antimicrobials used for treating campylobacteriosis were common in retail raw meats.

A standardized agar dilution susceptibility testing method was developed for Campylobacter that consisted of testing on Mueller-Hinton medium supplemented with 5% defibrinated sheep blood in an atmosphere of 10% CO2, 5% O2, and 85% N2. Campylobacter jejuni ATCC 33560 was identified as a quality-control (QC) strain. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) QC ranges were determined for two incubation time/temperature combinations: 36 degrees C for 48 hr and 42 degrees C for 24 hr. Quality-control ranges were determined for ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, erythromycin, gentamicin, and meropenem. For all antimicrobial agents tested at both temperatures, 95-100% of the QC MIC results fell within recommended QC ranges. Twenty-one Campylobacter clinical isolates, encompassing five species of Campylobacter (C. jejuni, C. coli, C. jejuni, subsp. doylei, C. fetus, and C. lari) were tested in conjunction with the C. jejuni QC strain. While C. jejuni and C. coli could be reliably tested under both test conditions, growth of C. jejuni subsp. doylei, C. fetus, and C. lari isolates was inconsistent when incubated at 42 degrees C. Therefore, it is recommended that these species only be tested at 36 degrees C.