Occurrence and Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli, and Campylobacter upsaliensis in Beef Cattle on Cow–Calf Operations in South Africa

Abstract

This study investigated occurrence and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Campylobacter spp. isolates in beef cattle on five cow-calf operations in South Africa. A total of 537 fecal samples from adult beef cattle (n = 435) and rectal swabs from calves (n = 102) were screened for Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli, and Campylobacter upsaliensis by culture and polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, 86 Campylobacter spp. isolates including 46 C. jejuni,24 C. coli, and 16 C. upsaliensis were tested for antimicrobial resistance against a panel of 9 antimicrobials. Overall, Campylobacter spp. was detected in 29.7% of cattle. Among the 158 Campylobacter spp.-positive cattle, 61.8% carried C. jejuni, 25% carried C. coli, and 10% carried C. upsaliensis. Five animals (3.1%) had mixed infections: three cows carried C. jejuni and C. coli concurrently, one cow had both C. jejuni and C. upsaliensis, and one cow harbored C. coli and C. upsaliensis. Antimicrobial resistance profiling among 86 Campylobacter spp. isolates revealed that 52.3% of the isolates were resistant to one or more antimicrobials. Antimicrobial resistance was observed in 46.7% of C. jejuni isolates, 35.6% of C. coli, and 17.8% of C. upsaliensis. Thirty-six percent of isolates were resistant to clindamycin, 19.7% to nalidixic acid, 18.6% to tetracycline, and 17.4% to erythromycin. Lower resistance rates were recorded for azithromycin (8.1%), florfenicol (3.4%), gentamicin (4.8%), and telithromycin and ciprofloxacin (5.8%). Multidrug resistance (MDR) was observed in 32.5% of isolates. Significantly higher levels of MDR were detected among C. jejuni (36.9%) and C. coli (33.3%) isolates in comparison to C. upsaliensis (18.7%). Two main multiresistance patterns were detected: nalidixic acid/clindamycin (17.8%) and tetracycline/clindamycin (14.2%). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study which has shown that beef cattle on cow-calf operations in South Africa constitute an important reservoir and a potential source of clinically relevant and antimicrobial resistant Campylobacter spp. strains.

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance of Campylobacter Species in Diarrheal Patients in Mymensingh, Bangladesh

“…However, the finding of this study is consistent with a similar study conducted in diarrheal patients in Fin-land [50]. However, antimicrobial resistance was documented as 46.7%, 35.6%, and 17.8% in C. jejuni, C. coli, and C. upsaliensis isolates, respectively, in beef cattle of South Africa [51]. Conversely, higher levels of resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline as >80% and> 70%, respectively, were captured in the diarrheal sample in the Arabian Gulf region [52].…”

Hyper-Aerotolerant Campylobacter coli From Swine May Pose a Potential Threat to Public Health Based on Its Quinolone Resistance, Virulence Potential, and Genetic Relatedness

“…The numbers on the branches present the difference degree in allelic profiles for housekeeping genes. Kang et al, 2006;Little et al, 2008;Torralbo et al, 2015;Tang et al, 2017;Guk et al, 2019;Karama et al, 2020). This was similar to the results of a previous study reporting a high prevalence (56-77%) of C. coli in swine colon samples (Kempf et al, 2017), indicating that pigs are a major reservoir of C. coli.…”

“…We identified that the majority of swine fecal samples were positive for C. coli (66.3%, 124/187, 95% CI 52.9–80.8%). The prevalence of C. coli in pigs in this study was higher than that in other livestock, including cattle (7.4–15.0%) and poultry, such as chickens (26.4–40.2%) and ducks (46.6–57.9%) ( Bae et al, 2005 ; Kang et al, 2006 ; Little et al, 2008 ; Torralbo et al, 2015 ; Tang et al, 2017 ; Guk et al, 2019 ; Karama et al, 2020 ). This was similar to the results of a previous study reporting a high prevalence (56–77%) of C. coli in swine colon samples ( Kempf et al, 2017 ), indicating that pigs are a major reservoir of C. coli .…”

Antibiotic Resistance in the Alternative Lifestyles of Campylobacter jejuni

“…Our results show that erythromycin was the second most efficient antibiotic in the evaluated strains, with a percentage of 34.3% (12/35) of resistance. Despite this, studies show an even greater efficiency with resistance rates ranging from 0 to 17.4% in several countries ( Aksomaitiene et al., 2019 ; Melo et al., 2019 ; Otto et al., 2019 ; Tryjanowski et al., 2019 ; Elhadidy et al., 2020 ; Karama et al., 2020 ). In a contradictory way, it is possible to find high levels of resistance in isolated strains of chickens ( Asuming-Bediako et al., 2019 ; Pillay et al., 2020 ).…”