PREVALENCE AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE OF SALMONELLA SEROVARS FROM CHICKEN CARCASSES IN NORTHERN GREECE

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolates recovered from chicken carcasses in slaughterhouses in Northern Greece. A total of 150 broiler samples were examined for Salmonella spp. and the results were reported as presence or absence of Salmonella spp. The samples were neck‐skin taken from 450 poultry carcasses at four slaughterhouses in Northern Greece. Salmonella was present in 56 (37%) of the samples tested. A total of 142 isolates belonging to six serovars were detected. The most common serotype identified was Salmonella blockley (73.2%), followed by Salmonella paratyphi B (16.9%), Salmonella bredeney (6.3%), Salmonella neftenbach (1.4%), Salmonella hadar (1.4%) and Salmonella thompson (0.7%). Salmonella spp. isolated from chicken carcasses was also examined for antibiotic resistance. Fifty‐six isolates of Salmonella (one strain from each positive sample) were tested for susceptibility to 20 antibiotics using the disk diffusion method. All isolates were resistant to four antimicrobials (penicillin, erythromycin, vancomycin and clindamycin) and the mass majority of them (more than 90%) to another three antimicrobials (tetracycline, oxytetracycline and streptomycin). The results of this study demonstrate a high prevalence of Salmonella spp. contamination in chicken carcasses and a large percentage of antimicrobial resistant strains. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS This study complements the limited and out‐of‐date research performed in Greece about the prevalence and the antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolated from chicken carcasses. There is a high prevalence of Salmonella contamination in chicken carcasses in Northern Greece. Poultry meat must be considered as a possible cause of Salmonella poisoning and therefore it should be handled with care during its preparation, especially from the consumers. The Salmonella strains isolated from chicken carcasses are resistant to a significant percentage of the most commonly used antibiotics which confirm that poultry is a major reservoir of multiresistant Salmonella.

Occurrence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella serotypes isolates recovered from poultry of Western Paran, Brazil

“…Considering the multiresistance to the antimicrobials, Sakaridis et al (2011) reported high rates of resistance to tetracycline, streptomycin and nalidixic acid, corroborating with this study. The authors attributed the increased resistance of some antimicrobial agents compared to others to the constant and intensive use of these agents as therapeutic and preventive in flocks.…”

“…About the resistance of the serotypes to enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin, these data agree with Sakaridis et al (2011), who analyzed the susceptibility of Salmonella samples isolated from chicken carcasses in Northern Greece against synthetic antimicrobials, and found low resistance to these antimicrobials. Considering the multiresistance to the antimicrobials, Sakaridis et al (2011) reported high rates of resistance to tetracycline, streptomycin and nalidixic acid, corroborating with this study.…”

“…For example, a few studies were found reporting the isolation of salmonella serotypes with high-level resistance in Brazil (Silva and Duarte, 2002;Cardoso et al, 2006;Ribeiro et al, 2007;Souza et al, 2011), Spain (Carramiñana et al, 2004), Lithuania (Ruzauskas et al, 2005), Nigeria (Okolli et al, 2006), United States (Alali et al, 2010) and Greece (Sakaridis et al, 2011). These studies reported that Salmonella from poultry source are resistant to a wide range of antimicrobials and confirmed that poultry are important reservoirs of multidrug-resistant Salmonella.…”

“…But, the indiscriminate use of subtherapeutic concentrations for various purposes, such as growth promoters, therapeutics and prophylactics provides the selection and prevalence of different serotypes of Salmonella and other microorganisms resistant to antibiotics. This reduces their effectiveness in clinical cases, besides contributing to the presence of residues in meat and meat products (Bila and Dezotti, 2003;Sakaridis et al, 2011).…”

Ocorrência e perfil de resistencia antimicrobiana de sorotipos de Salmonella spp. isolados de aviários do Paraná, Brasil

“…Nesse sentido, destacam-se estudos em que foram encontrados isolados de Salmonella spp. com elevadas taxas de resistência no Brasil (Cortez et al,2006;Cardoso et al, 2006;Ribeiro et al, 2006;Duarte et al, 2009;Souza et al, 2010), assim como na Espanha (Carramiñana et al, 2004), Lituânia (Ruzauskas et al, 2005), Estados Unidos (Alali et al, 2010) e Grécia (Sakaridis et al, 2011).…”