Overview of Virulence and Antibiotic Resistance in Campylobacter spp. Livestock Isolates

Abstract

Campylobacter remains the most prevalent foodborne pathogen bacterium responsible for causing gastroenteritis worldwide. Specifically, this pathogen colonises a ubiquitous range of environments, from poultry, companion pets and livestock animals to humans. The bacterium is uniquely adaptable to various niches, leading to complicated gastroenteritis and, in some cases, difficult to treat due to elevated resistance to certain antibiotics. This increased resistance is currently detected via genomic, clinical or epidemiological studies, with the results highlighting worrying multi-drug resistant (MDR) profiles in many food and clinical isolates. The Campylobacter genome encodes a rich inventory of virulence factors offering the bacterium the ability to influence host immune defences, survive antimicrobials, form biofilms and ultimately boost its infection-inducing potential. The virulence traits responsible for inducing clinical signs are not sufficiently defined because several populations have ample virulence genes with physiological functions that reflect their pathogenicity differences as well as a complement of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) systems. Therefore, exhaustive knowledge of the virulence factors associated with Campylobacter is crucial for collecting molecular insights into the infectivity processes, which could pave the way for new therapeutical targets to combat and control the infection and mitigate the spread of MDR bacteria. This review provides an overview of the spread and prevalence of genetic determinants associated with virulence and antibiotic resistance from studies performed on livestock animals. In addition, we have investigated the relevant coincidental associations between the prevalence of the genes responsible for pathogenic virulence, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and transmissibility of highly pathogenic Campylobacter strains.

Genotypic Characterization and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of HumanCampylobacter jejuniIsolates in Southern Spain

“…The mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in Campylobacter have been widely studied. However, the pathogenic mechanisms and the mode of interaction of Campylobacter with the host are not fully defined (12,48). A prevalence of 21% was detected for the wlaN and cstIII genes, with a possible association with ST-50 because these two genes were detected in 80% of the isolates belonging to ST-50 (Figure 1).…”

“…The mechanisms underlying the pathogenicity and virulence of C. jejuni are not fully understood. However, several genes involved in motility, cell cytotoxicity, invasion, chemotaxis, and the cellular stress response have been described (12)(13)(14). Virulence factors (wlaN, cgtB, cstII, and cstIII) implicated in the pathogenesis of GBS via the modification of lipooligosaccharide (LOS) have also been studied (15,16).…”

A broad host phage, CP6, for combating multidrug-resistant Campylobacter prevalent in poultry meat

“…As a commensal organism with high load (10 9 CFU/g) in chicken ceca, Campylobacter easily contaminates carcasses of slaughtered birds (Thibodeau et al, 2015) . With the widespread use of antimicrobial agents in poultry and livestock production systems, the surveillance of AMR in Campylobacter has identified high levels of resistance to some drugs in many parts of the world (Bundurus et al, 2023) . Furthermore, severe MDR increases the threat to public safety ( Zhang et al, 2016 ).…”

Distribution characteristics and potential risks of bioaerosols during scattered farming

“…Among these, Bacillus causes cutaneous, abdominal, or gastrointestinal anthrax in humans and reared livestock 40 . Campylobacter causes reproductive and intestinal infections in livestock and poultry, and may also cause abortion and infertile fetuses in cattle and sheep; it can also infect humans, causing miscarriage, premature births, septicemia, and similar symptoms 42,43 . It has been demonstrated that domestic animals serve as the largest potential reservoir of zoonotic viral diseases 44 .…”