Comparing the Genetic Diversity and Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of Campylobacter jejuni Recovered from Cattle and Humans

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni, a leading cause of gastroenteritis in humans, is a foodborne pathogen that can reside in chickens, pigs, and cattle. Because resistance to fluoroquinolones and macrolides, which are commonly used to treat human infections, has emerged in C. jejuni, it is imperative to continously monitor resistance patterns and examine the genetic variation in strains from human infections and animal reservoirs. Our previous study of C. jejuni from human campylobacteriosis cases showed a significantly higher rate of tetracycline resistance compared to national trends, and identified multilocus sequence type (ST)-982 and a history of cattle contact to be associated with tetracycline resistance. To further investigate these associations, we conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the frequency of antimicrobial resistance and examine the genetic diversity of C. jejuni recovered from 214 cattle at three Michigan herds. Overall, the prevalence of C. jejuni was 69.2% (range: 58.6–83.8%) for the three farms, and 83.7% (n = 113) of isolates were resistant to one or more antimicrobials. Resistance to only tetracycline predominated among the cattle isolates (n = 89; 65.9%) with most resistant strains belonging to ST-459 (96.5%) or ST-982 (86.4%). Among the 22 STs identified, STs 459 and 982 were more prevalent in one feedlot, which reported the use of chlortetracycline in feed upon arrival of a new herd. PCR-based fingerprinting demonstrated that the ST-982 isolates from cattle and humans had identical banding patterns, suggesting the possibility of interspecies transmission. Resistance to macrolides (1.5%) and ciprofloxacin (16.3%) was also observed; 14 of the 22 ciprofloxacin resistant isolates represented ST-1244. Together, these findings demonstrate a high prevalence of antimicrobial resistant C. jejuni in cattle and identify associations with specific genotypes. Continuous monitoring and identification of risk factors for resistance emergence are imperative to develop novel methods aimed at decreasing pathogen persistence in food animal reservoirs and the frequency of resistant infections in humans.

Increasing prevalence of a fluoroquinolone resistance mutation amongst Campylobacter jejuni isolates from four human infectious intestinal disease studies in the United Kingdom

“…Fluoroquinolone resistance amongst human and farm animal isolates of C. jejuni has been reported extensively [10,41]. Previous studies have reported correlation between ciprofloxacin resistance (and the T86I mutation) and specific clonal groups of C. jejuni [10,18,19,42,43]. In a six year study of 3300 human C. jejuni isolates in Oxfordshire, UK, nine clonal complexes were significantly associated with ciprofloxacin sensitivity ( [44].…”

High Prevalence of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Campylobacter Bacteria in Sheep and Increased Campylobacter Counts in the Bile and Gallbladders of Sheep Medicated with Tetracycline in Feed

“…The other four PFGE types belonged to ST982 (type B) and ST52 (types C, D, and E). ST982 accounted for 20.8% (10/48) of the C. jejuni isolates in a previous study involving a lamb slaughterhouse, and it was also reported in cattle (15,25,49). ST52 was reported sporadically in C. jejuni isolates from different countries and sources, including from ruminants (36-38, 48, 50, 51).…”

“…In contrast to the C. coli isolates, the predominant C. jejuni genotype in sheep, ST2862 (Fig. 3), was not previously identified in cattle in the United States (15,26,49). Although C. jejuni ST982 has been found in cattle (15), PFGE patterns of cattle isolates were quite different from those of the sheep isolates (Fig.…”

Therapeutic administration of enrofloxacin in mice does not select for fluoroquinolone resistance inCampylobacter jejuni

“…D r a f t Inglis,Zaytsoff,Selinger,Taboada,Uwiera Canadian Journal of Microbiology Page 13 However, some evidence indicates that selection for fluoroquinolone resistance may be subtype specific including C. jejuni isolated from cattle (Cha et al 2017).…”