Characterisation of Campylobacter spp. Isolated from Poultry in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

This study investigated the antibiotic resistance, virulence profiles, and clonality of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli isolated from an intensive poultry farming system in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Following ethical approval, samples were collected over six weeks using the farm-to-fork approach. Campylobacter spp. were identified using culture, confirmed and differentiated to species level by PCR, and subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing. Selected antibiotic resistance (and mutations) and virulence genes were screened by PCR and confirmed by DNA sequencing. Genetic relatedness amongst the isolates was ascertained using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. In all, 105 isolates were confirmed as belonging to both Campylobacter coli (60; 57%) and C. jejuni (45; 43%). The highest resistance was recorded against erythromycin and clindamycin. The gyrA mutation, A20175C/A2074G point mutation, tet(O), and cmeB, all associated with antibiotic resistance, were detected. All the virulence genes (pldA, ciaB, cdtA, cdtB, cdtC, dnaJ, except for cadF) were also detected. Isolates were grouped into five pulsotypes displaying 85% similarity, irrespective of their resistance profiles. The numerous permutations of clonality, antibiotic resistance, and virulence profiles evident in Campylobacter spp. pose a challenge to food safety and necessitate a comprehensive understanding of the molecular epidemiology of this organism to decrease its spread in the food chain.

Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles, Virulence Genes, and Genetic Diversity of Thermophilic Campylobacter Species Isolated From a Layer Poultry Farm in Korea

“…cad F seems to be a prerequisite for the invasion of epithelial cells by any bacterial pathogen ( Ramires et al, 2020 ). The outer membrane phospholipase A ( pld A) was observed more in C. jejuni than in C. coli ( Figure 2 ), which corroborates the study in South Africa ( Pillay et al, 2020 ), while for cia B, our findings are above those of a previous report in Korea ( Oh et al, 2017 ) and contrast with the study in South Africa ( Pillay et al, 2020 ). The presence of cad F and cia B facilitates the adhesion and internalization of Campylobacter in cellular models ( Ramires et al, 2020 ).…”

“…In this study, cst II, cdt B, fla A, cad F, and dna J were detected in all isolates. The detection rates were similar to a previous report in Korea ( Oh et al, 2017 ) but higher than those reported in South Africa and Chile ( González-Hein et al, 2013 ; Otigbu et al, 2018 ; Pillay et al, 2020 ). cad F seems to be a prerequisite for the invasion of epithelial cells by any bacterial pathogen ( Ramires et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Mutation experiments highlighted the role of fla A in chicken colonization ( Bolton, 2015 ). Campylobacter species also possess other genes associated with adhesion ( cad F and pld A), invasion ( cia B), thermo-tolerance ( dna J) ( Pillay et al, 2020 ), and stress response ( csr A) ( Fields and Thompson, 2008 ). Studies have shown that Campylobacter strain mutants for cad F and cia B exhibited a reduced attachment and invasion of INT 407 cell line along with a decline of survival potential ( Kreling et al, 2020 ; Ramires et al, 2020 ).…”

Genomic Investigation into the Virulome, Pathogenicity, Stress Response Factors, Clonal Lineages, and Phylogenetic Relationship of Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Meat Sources in Ghana

“…Molecular investigations have been carried using a number of typing techniques including enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC), random amplified polymorphic deoxyribonucleic acid (RAPD), repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP), pulse-field gel electrophoresis, and multi-locus sequence typing [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. Recent advances have promoted the use of whole-genome sequencing and metagenomics.…”

Stewardship of Antibiotics for Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria

“…Overall, there are plenty of interesting topics about the stewardship of old and novel agents for MDR-GNB infections that are explored in the articles published in the present Special Issue. In addition, we included two papers by Pillay and colleagues and Oloso and colleagues, which deal with resistance issues in the broiler production chain, reminding us of the importance of adopting a One Health approach in global antimicrobial stewardship interventions [9,10]. Finally, we tried to look to the future with a brief narrative review on the use of machine learning techniques in observational studies of MDR-GNB infections in humans [11].…”