Introduction and Objectives:
Campylobacter is among main enteropathogens that are responsible for inflammatory diarrhea in human populations. Failure of antibiotic regimens against invasive infections of this bacterium in human could be caused through transmission of resistance genes from the strains exists in food animal reservoirs. To show this relationship, a prospective surveillance study was done in 22 regions of
Tehran. Materials and Methods: Infection rate of
Campylobacter spp. in 400 symptomatic patients with diarrhea and contamination of 100 chicken meat samples distributed across 22 regions of Tehran was analyzed. The presence of C. jejuni, C. coli, C. lari, and C. upsaliensis among the isolates were characterized by PCR methods. Resistance patterns to 7 antibiotics and multidrug resistance patterns were detected by E-test and disc diffusion methods, as described by EUCAST and CLSI guidelines published 2018. MIC50 and MIC90 were reported based on the determined values. Statistical analyses were done to show correlation of the resistance phenotypes among common resistance phenotypes between the human and chicken meat isolates.
MAMA PCR for detection of quinolones resistance determining region (QRDR) of gyrA was done on C. jejuni isolates with defined MIC values. Results: The poultry meat samples were related to 41 different brands, which their weight ranged from 0.76 Kg to 2.71 Kg.
Campylobacter was isolated from 35% of chicken meet samples (C. jejuni, 23%; C. coli, 1%; C. lari, 2%; other species, 9%), while isolated from 6.7% of the patients with community acquired diarrhea (C. jejuni, 5.7%; C. coli, 0.5%; C. lari, 0.14%; other species, 0.25%). Higher rates of isolation were detected among children with diarrhea and meat samples of ≥1.5 Kg weight. Resistance to tetracycline (62.8% and 55.5%), ciprofloxacin (51.4% and 29.6%), nalidixic acid (42.8% and 29.6%), erythromycin (37.1% and 40.7%), gentamicin (31.4% and 33.3%), ampicillin (17.1% and 51.8%), and clindamycin (17.1% and 40.7%) was common among the meat and feces isolates, respectively.
MDR phenotype was detected in 42.8% of the
Campylobacter isolates from the chicken meat and 51.8% of the stool samples, respectively. The resistance patterns were not linked to specific brands of the chicken products, the production date, and city regions. Conclusion: Frequency of
Campylobacter strains with higher rates of resistance to most of the antibiotics among the chicken meat isolates and similarity of their characteristics at species level between the human stool and chicken meat isolates proposed their risks for transmission to human population through food chain in Tehran.