Campylobacter multi‐locus sequence types and antimicrobial susceptibility of broiler cecal isolates: A two year study of 143 commercial flocks

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess genetic diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility of Campylobacter jejuni and coli from broiler ceca. Ceca from one broiler were collected from a commercial processing plant, once or twice weekly for 2 years (n = 143). Campylobacter were cultured from the cecal contents and analyzed by whole genome sequencing, multi‐locus sequence typing (MLST) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Seventy‐two of 143 carcasses examined were positive for Campylobacter. A total of 24 MLST sequence‐types (ST) were identified belonging to ten Campylobacter clonal complexes (CC). Three MLST clonal complexes, CC‐353 (53.2%), CC‐828 (17.7%), and CC‐48 (11.4%) accounted for the majority of Campylobacter isolates recovered. Compared to all other clonal complexes, a significantly higher percentage (p < .05) of C. coli isolates belonging to CC‐828 complex were resistant to azithromycin, clindamycin, erythromycin, and gentamicin. CC‐48 was significantly more resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid than other CCs regardless of species. No isolates were resistant to florfenicol. Practical applications Despite high genetic diversity among Campylobacter recovered from broiler ceca during this 2‐year study, antimicrobial resistance was significantly linked to MLST clonal complex, specifically C. coli, CC‐828 and C. jejuni, CC‐48.

Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence-Associated Traits of Campylobacter jejuni Isolated From Poultry Food Chain and Humans With Diarrhea

“…Erythromycin is the drug of choice for the treatment of C. jejuni infections and resistance levels observed in all isolates regardless the origin were very low (0.8% resistant strains in total). The percentage of macrolide-resistant isolates recovered previously from poultry chain was usually also low but higher than obtained in the present investigation, and ranged from 2.2 to 26.0% (Han et al, 2016 ; Lapierre et al, 2016 ; Mäesaar et al, 2016 ; Ladely et al, 2017 ; Raeisi et al, 2017 ). Analyzes of such isolates in Poland demonstrated that erythromycin resistant levels among C. jejuni were rather low, from 0% (Wieczorek et al, 2013b ; Wieczorek and Osek, 2015 ; Wozniak-Biel et al, 2018 ), 2.4% (Wieczorek et al, 2015 ), 3.0% (Andrzejewska et al, 2015 ) to 3.3% (Szczepanska et al, 2017 ).…”

“…It may suggest that poultry can serve as important reservoir of such strains for humans. Recent studies also indicated that C. jejuni of poultry sources were often resistant to tetracycline at the rates from 32.3% of the isolates in Chile (Lapierre et al, 2016 ), 75.5% in Iran (Raeisi et al, 2017 ), 79.4% in China (Han et al, 2016 ) up to 83.5% in the USA (Ladely et al, 2017 ). Investigations performed earlier in Poland showed different resistance levels to this antimicrobial, ranging from 9.0% (Rozynek et al, 2008 ), 31.1% (Wieczorek et al, 2015 ), 42.3% (Andrzejewska et al, 2015 ), 46.5% (Wieczorek and Osek, 2015 ), 51.1% (Szczepanska et al, 2017 ) up to even 100% of C. jejuni tested (Wozniak-Biel et al, 2018 ).…”

Correlation between Multilocus Sequence Typing and Antibiotic Resistance, Virulence Potential of Campylobacter jejuni Isolates from Poultry Meat

“…The most predominant lineages are CC45, CC42, CC61 and CC21, which accounted for 58% of the 100 isolates. Previous studies have shown that these four clone complexes are widespread in chicken, in samples from other poultry as well as in the isolates from human patients in many countries [ 14 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]. It was reported that strains of ST45 and ST21 were the most clinically detected [ 20 , 38 ].…”