Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance of Thermophilic Campylobacter spp. from Cattle Farms in Washington State

Abstract

The prevalence of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. was investigated in cattle on Washington State farms. A total of 350 thermophilic Campylobacter isolates were isolated from 686 cattle sampled on 15 farms (eight dairies, two calf rearer farms, two feedlots, and three beef cow-calf ranches). Isolate species were identified with a combination of phenotypic tests, hipO colony blot hybridization, and multiplex lpxA PCR. Breakpoint resistance to four antimicrobials (ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, erythromycin, and doxycycline) was determined by agar dilution. Campylobacter jejuni was the most frequent species isolated (34.1%), followed by Campylobacter coli (7.7%) and other thermophilic campylobacters (1.5%). The most frequently detected resistance was to doxycycline (42.3% of 350 isolates). Isolates from calf rearer facilities were more frequently doxycycline resistant than isolates from other farm types. C. jejuni was most frequently susceptible to all four of the antimicrobial drugs studied (58.8% of 272 isolates). C. coli isolates were more frequently resistant than C. jejuni, including resistance to quinolone antimicrobials (89.3% of isolates obtained from calves on calf rearer farms) and to erythromycin (72.2% of isolates obtained from feedlot cattle). Multiple drug resistance was more frequent in C. coli (51.5%) than in C. jejuni (5.1%). The results of this study demonstrate that C. jejuni is widely distributed among Washington cattle farms, while C. coli is more narrowly distributed but significantly more resistant.

Occurrence of Campylobacter on carcasses of slaughtered animals between 2009 and 2013

“…In the remaining regions of Poland, the carcasses were more commonly contaminated with C. coli than C. jejuni, especially in Lubuskie and Lubelskie provinces -87.5% and 63.9% respectively. 1 Since the number of positive samples in each year was below 10, the percentage was not calculated …”

“…In a survey in Belgium, 3.3% of beef carcass samples (n = 60) were positive for this pathogen (8), whereas in Italy 2% of raw beef meat (n = 151) was contaminated with Campylobacter (16). Furthermore, prevalence of Campylobacter was assessed in cattle in Finland (34.0% positive farms), in USA (43.3% and 51.2% positive faecal samples), and in Italy (43.7% rectal swabs) but all these results should not be compared with the contamination of cattle carcasses (1,3,7,9).…”

Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter in raw milk in the selected areas of Poland

“…The studies conducted so far have rather indicated susceptibility of genus Campylobacter bacteria to this antibiotic. Bae et al (2005), Englen et al (2005) recorded the resistance at the level of 25%, although Endtz et al (1991) highlighted the increasing resistance of Campylobacter species to antibiotics, mainly the fluorochinolones. As a consequence, fluorochinolones should not be recommended in the treatment in cases with severe or prolonged symptoms.…”

“…Also erythromycin is a frequently applied medical drug of choice. The absence of resistance (Sato et al 2004) or very low resistance to this antibiotic at the level of 1.9% (Chatre et al 2010), or 2.9% (Bae et al 2005) suggest that macrolides are one of the first line antibiotics in the treatment of human C. jejuni -associated diseases.…”

The Absence of Intervening Sequences in 23S rRNA Genes of Campylobacter coli Isolates from Turkeys Is a Unique Attribute of a Cluster of Related Strains Which Also Lack Resistance to Erythromycin

“…Erythromycin has been shown to be effective in treating patients with Campylobacter enteritis (30) and is the current drug of choice when antibiotic treatment is indicated. However, recent studies indicate that the prevalence of erythromycin resistance (Em r ) in C. coli isolated from food animals is significantly higher than in C. jejuni (1,3,8,13,23,24). For example, Luangtongkum et al reported that for samples from conventional poultry farms, 89% of C. coli and 19% of C. jejuni isolates were resistant to erythromycin (23).…”