Occurrence of Campylobacter spp. in Swedish calves, common sequence types and antibiotic resistance patterns

Abstract

Aims: Cattle are the second most important cause of human campylobacteriosis, after poultry, but there are knowledge gaps regarding Campylobacter in cattle. This study examined the occurrence of Campylobacter, the species present, sequence types and antibiotic resistance in Swedish cattle. Methods and Results: Faeces samples collected from 154 calves on seven Swedish farms, and 69 follow-up samples from a second collection occasion, were analysed. Campylobacter were isolated from 77% of calves at the first sampling, with Campylobacter jejuni as the most frequently isolated species. Animals kept on deep straw bedding were less likely to be colonized with Campylobacter. Whole-genome sequencing of 90 C. jejuni samples resulted in 11 sequence types, among which ST-19 and ST-21 were most frequent. Antimicrobial resistance analyses showed that 46% of 142 isolates analysed were resistant to quinolones, while all isolates belonging to ST-19, ST-22 and ST-441 were resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid. Conclusions: Campylobacter jejuni was the species most frequently isolated in calves and a strong association was found between sequence type and antimicrobial resistance pattern. Significance and Impact of the Study: The high proportion of calves with quinolone-resistant Campylobacter jejuni should be considered in a One Health perspective.

Differences in Genotype and Antimicrobial Resistance between Campylobacter spp. Isolated from Organic and Conventionally Produced Chickens in Sweden

“…Other studies have also found that resistance to quinolones may be linked to certain sequence types and disseminated among different animal species [36]. However, in the present study two of the 11 ST-257 from conventional chickens and none of the three isolates from organic chickens were resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid, whereas in the study on Swedish calves ST-257 isolates were sensitive to all antibiotics tested [35]. It is unclear why Campylobacter strains isolated from organic chickens were resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid to a significantly lower extent than those from conventionally raised chickens.…”

“…In the present study, four out of four C. jejuni ST-19 isolates from conventional chickens were resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid, while the ST-19 isolate from organic chickens was sensitive to both these antibiotics. Similarly, the C. jejuni isolate of ST-441, in this study and that on Swedish calves [35], was resistant to ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, and tetracycline, and isolates of ST-21 were sensitive to all antimicrobials tested in both studies. Other studies have also found that resistance to quinolones may be linked to certain sequence types and disseminated among different animal species [36].…”

“…A significant increase in the prevalence of the T86I mutation conferring resistance to fluoroquinolone has been observed in the UK, where the mutation has been found in many different STs [34]. In contrast, a strong association was found between specific genotypes and resistance to antimicrobials in a study on healthy calves in Sweden, with resistance to ciprofloxacin in 66 (46%) of 142 C. jejuni isolates [35]. All 20 C. jejuni isolates belonging to ST-19 from the calves in that study were resistant to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid.…”

First report on outbreaks of contagious ovine digital dermatitis in Sweden

“…No Treponema isolates could be cultivated, but the three swabs cultivated for D. nodosus were all positive, findings confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) (Bruker Daltonics, Billerica, MA, USA). Whole-genome sequencing of the three D. nodosus isolates, performed as described in Hansson et al [ 29 ], revealed that these isolates were of sequence type (ST) 1 and serogroup G, and were virulent.…”

Zoonotic Transmission of Campylobacter jejuni to Caretakers From Sick Pen Calves Carrying a Mixed Population of Strains With and Without Guillain Barré Syndrome-Associated Lipooligosaccharide Loci

“…These studies have been performed in Africa [Nigeria ( Ngulukun et al, 2016 ), Ethiopia ( Nigatu et al, 2015 ; Hagos et al, 2021 ), South Africa ( Karama et al, 2020 )], Eastern Asia [China ( Ju et al, 2018 ; Zang et al, 2021a ), Japan ( Ono, 2013 ; Mori et al, 2015 ; Kiatsomphob et al, 2019 ), Malaysia ( Premarathne et al, 2017 ), South Korea ( Dong et al, 2016 ; An et al, 2018 )], Western Asia [Iraq ( Khalifa et al, 2013a , b ; Al-Edany et al, 2015 ) and India ( Rajagunalan et al, 2014 )], Europe [Austria ( Klein-Joebstl et al, 2016 ), France ( Thepault et al, 2018 ), Italy ( Bianchini et al, 2014a , b ), Latvia ( Meistere et al, 2019 ; Terentjeva et al, 2019 ), Lithuania ( Ramonaite et al, 2017 ; Aksomaitiene et al, 2019 ), Poland ( Wieczorek and Osek, 2018 ), Spain ( Ocejo et al, 2019 ), Sweden ( Hansson et al, 2021 ), New Zealand ( Rapp et al, 2012 ; Irshad et al, 2016 )], and North America [Canada ( Webb et al, 2018 ; Farfan et al, 2019 ; Inglis et al, 2020 ), and the United States ( Cha et al, 2016 ; Tang et al, 2017 )].…”