Clonal Population Structure and Antimicrobial Resistance ofCampylobacter jejuniin Chicken Meat from Belgium

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the most important causes of human diarrhea worldwide. In the present work, multilocus sequence typing was used to study the genotypic diversity of 145 C. jejuni isolates from 135 chicken meat preparations sampled across Belgium. Isolates were further typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and their susceptibilities to six antimicrobials were determined. Fifty-seven sequence types (STs) were identified; 26.8% of the total typed isolates were ST-50, ST-45, or ST-257, belonging to clonal complex CC-21, CC-45, or CC-257, respectively. One clonal group comprised 22% (32/145) of all isolates, originating from five different companies and isolated over seven sampling months. Additionally, 53.1% of C. jejuni isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, and 48.2% were resistant to tetracycline; 28.9% (42/145) of all isolates were resistant to both ciprofloxacin and tetracycline. The correlation between certain C. jejuni clonal groups and resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline was notable. C. jejuni isolates assigned to CC-21 (n ‫؍‬ 35) were frequently resistant to ciprofloxacin (65.7%) and tetracycline (40%); however, 90% (18/20) of the isolates assigned to CC-45 were pansusceptible. The present study demonstrates that certain C. jejuni genotypes recur frequently in the chicken meat supply. The results of molecular typing, combined with data on sample sources, indicate a possible dissemination of C. jejuni clones with high resistance to ciprofloxacin and/or tetracycline. Whether certain clonal groups are common in the environment and repeatedly infect Belgian broiler flocks or whether they have the potential to persist on farms or in slaughterhouses needs further investigation.

Campylobacter sequence typing databases: applications and future prospects

“…For example, among 340 Campylobacter isolates obtained in slaughterhouses in Switzerland, 18.9 % of C. jejuni and 26.8 % of C. coli possessed resistance-conferring mutations, with the same gyrA mutation shared amongst particular MLST genotypes, and with some clonal complexes less likely to have a resistance-conferring mutation (Wirz et al, 2010). Similar findings were obtained from 145 Belgian chicken meat isolates, with 64.7 % of ST-21 complex isolates demonstrating resistance to ciprofloxacin (Habib et al, 2009b), and in Senegal, where a relationship has been reported between ST-353 complex isolates from chicken carcasses and a particular resistance-conferring substitution in the gyrA gene (T86I), although identical resistance mechanisms could be found in distantly related isolates (Kinana et al, 2006). A number of other studies, however, have found less evidence for association of resistance phenotypes with membership of particular clonal complexes (Lévesque et al, 2008;Wang et al, 2011).…”

“…Examples include: (i) the ST-45 and ST-257 clonal complexes, which are common amongst poultry in Europe, New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, Senegal de Haan et al, 2010a;Griekspoor et al, 2010;Habib et al, 2009a;Jorgensen et al, 2011;Kinana et al, 2006;Magnú sson et al, 2011;McTavish et al, 2009;Patriarchi et al, 2011;Wirz et al, 2010); (ii) the ST-61 and ST-42 clonal complexes, which have been found to be common amongst ruminants in This database depends on voluntary submissions and the data are, therefore, neither necessarily representative nor exhaustive; however, they do indicate that different clonal complexes show marked differences in the likelihood of being associated with particular isolation sources. Note that all clonal complexes are C. jejuni, with the exception of the ST-828 clonal complex, which is C. coli.…”

Prevalence and Characteristics of <i>Salmonella</i> and <i>Campylobacter</i> in Retail Poultry Meat in Japan

“…The degree of association between specific genotypes and drug resistance in Campylobacter and Salmonella strains remains a topic of debate. Some researchers reported that drug resistance is associated with specific genotypes (25)(26)(27)(28)(29), whereas others reported no such associations (30,31). Because the number of isolates analyzed in this study was limited, further studies should be conducted to elucidate the association between genotypes and drug resistance in Campylobacter more precisely.…”

A Longitudinal 6-Year Study of the Molecular Epidemiology of Clinical Campylobacter Isolates in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

“…In Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, the proportion of clinical ciprofloxacin-resistant Campylobacter isolates increased from 3% in 1991 to 37 (20), and more recently the level was 97.9% in China (17). An association between poultry consumption and acquisition of ciprofloxacin-resistant Campylobacter has been described, and some studies have detected possible associations between clonal complex and antibiotic resistance (15,24). In Australia, where these drugs have not 9 January 2012.…”