Identification and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella enterica isolated from live birds at commercial resellers

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the sanitary and management characteristics of live-bird resellers as well as identify and undertake an antigenic characterization of Salmonella enterica and its sensitivity to antimicrobials. Structured questionnaires were applied and 627 samples were collected from the cages, consisting 209 samples of excreta, 209 of feed and 209 drinker swabs. These were processed by conventional bacteriology. The obtained isolates were subjected to the susceptibility test and to 12 antimicrobial tests by the disk diffusion method. Of the studied resellers, 91.7% house Gallus gallus domesticus, together with other animal species; sell birds with little zoosanitary documentation; have unsatisfactory active surveillance; and use and sell antimicrobials indiscriminately. The presence of Salmonella enterica was detected in 1.4% (9/627) of the samples analyzed in the cages, with 1.9% (4/209) found in excreta, 0.95% (2/209) in feed and in 1.4% (3/209) in drinker swabs. These were characterized antigenically as Salmonella Heidelberg, Gallinarum, Risen, Ndolo, Saint Paul, Mbandaka and subsp enterica O:6,7. When susceptibility to antimicrobials was determined, 44.4% resistance (4/9) was detected for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 33.3% (3/9) for enrofloxacin, 22.2% (2/9) for ciprofloxacin, ceftiofur and amoxicillin and 11.1% (1/9) for tetracycline and fosfomycin. Salmonella Heidelberg, as well as serovars Gallinarum, Risen, Saint Paul and Mbandaka, showed resistance to at least one of the tested antimicrobials. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and enrofloxacin were the antimicrobials that showed the least efficacy. Serovars such as Heidelberg, Gallinarum and Mbandaka have multiresistance to antimicrobials commonly used in human and veterinary medicine, implying potential risks to One Health.

Prevalence, main serovars, and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Non-typhoidal Salmonella in poultry samples from the Americas: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Kentucky, Heidelberg, Typhimurium, Enteritidis, and Infantis were the top five NTS serovars with the highest prevalence of AMR in the poultry samples from the Americas, which partially coincide with several studies in which the highest prevalence of AMR was found in the serovars Enteritidis, Typhimurium, and Infantis (Carraminana et al, 2004;El-Sharkawy et al, 2017;Kunadu, Otwey, & Mosi, 2020). The presence of these isolates with AMR in the poultry production chain is a concern given that several actors from this husbandry and supply chain frequently handle equipment, animals, and products without the necessary protections and thus increase the risk of resistance transfer and spread to commensal bacteria (Reis et al, 2021). Besides, even though the serovar Heidelberg is not frequently reported among the main resistant serovars, we found that Heidelberg was the 2 nd top-ranked serovar with AMR in the Americas and this is an important result for public health given that Heidelberg is one of the serovars that can induce systemic complications in people, especially children, the elderly or immunocompromised people (Silva, Milbradt, Zamae, Andreatti Filho, & Okamoto, 2016).…”

“…In this regard, in several countries from South America the imposition of strict controls on the environment and hygiene of poultry husbandry is restricted due to high ambient temperatures (Barrow, Jones, Smith, & Wigley, 2012), thus causing differences in the incidence of NTS concerning countries with improved hygiene and management practices. Finally, national programs of poultry health, current legislation, and farmers' perceptions are also factors capable of affecting the monitoring and control of the pathogens in poultry as well as the biosecurity measures needed to avoid their spreading (de Oliveira Sidinei, Marcato, Perez, & Bankuti, 2021;Reis et al, 2021).…”

Prevalence, main serovars and anti‐microbial resistance profiles of non‐typhoidal Salmonella in poultry samples from the Americas: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Kentucky, Heidelberg, Typhimurium, Enteritidis and Infantis were the top five NTS serovars with the highest prevalence of AMR in the poultry samples from the Americas, which partially coincide with several studies in which the highest prevalence of AMR was found in the serovars Enteritidis, Typhimurium and Infantis (Carramiñana et al., 2004; El‐Sharkawy et al., 2017; Parry‐Hanson Kunadu et al., 2020). The presence of these isolates with AMR in the poultry production chain is a concern given that several actors from this husbandry and supply chain frequently handle equipment, animals and products without the necessary protections and thus increase the risk of resistance transfer and spread to commensal bacteria (Reis et al., 2020). Besides, even though the serovar Heidelberg is not frequently reported among the main resistant serovars, we found that Heidelberg was the second top‐ranked serovar with AMR in the Americas, and this is an important result for public health given that Heidelberg is one of the serovars that can induce systemic complications in people, especially children, the elderly or immunocompromised people (Silva et al., 2016).…”

“…In this regard, in several countries from South America, the imposition of strict controls on the environment and hygiene of poultry husbandry is restricted due to high ambient temperatures (Barrow et al, 2012), thus causing differences in the incidence of NTS concerning countries with improved hygiene and management practices. Finally, national programs of poultry health, current legislation and farmers' perceptions are also factors capable of affecting the monitoring and control of the pathogens in poultry as well as the biosecurity measures needed to avoid their spreading (De Oliveira Sidinei et al, 2021;Reis et al, 2020). (Lindberg & Le Minor, 1984).…”