Prevalence, Antimicrobial Resistance and Risk Factors for ThermophilicCampylobacterInfections in Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Humans in Tanzania

Abstract

The genus Campylobacter comprises members known to be a leading cause of foodborne gastrointestinal illness worldwide. A study was conducted to determine the epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter in humans in Morogoro, Eastern Tanzania. Isolation of Campylobacter from stool specimens adopted the Cape Town protocol. Campylobacter isolates were preliminarily identified by conventional phenotypic tests and subsequently confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry and polymerase chain reaction. Antimicrobial resistance testing employed the disc diffusion method. A small proportion of the test isolates was also subjected to agar dilution method. Risk factors for human illness were determined in an unmatched case-control study. Thermophilic Campylobacter were isolated from 11.4% of the screened individuals (n = 1195). The agreement between PCR and MALDI-TOF was perfect (κ = 1.0). Symptomatics and young individuals were infected with higher numbers than asymptomatic and adults, respectively. The majority (84.6%) of the isolates were C. jejuni and the remaining were C. coli. Isolates had highest resistance (95.6%) for colistin sulphate and lowest for ciprofloxacin (22.1%). The rates of resistance for other antibiotics (azithromycin, erythromycin, tetracycline, cephalothin, gentamycin, nalidixic acid, ampicillin, amoxycillin, norfloxacin, chloramphenicol) ranged from 44.1% to 89%. Comparison between disc diffusion and agar dilution methods indicated a good correlation, and the tests were in agreement to each other (κ ≥ 0.75). Human illness was found to be associated with young age and consumption of chicken meat and pre-prepared salad. Our data indicate the presence of antibiotic-resistant thermophilic Campylobacter in humans in the study area. There is a need for routine investigation of the presence of the organisms in gastroenteritis aetiology, including determination of their antibiotic susceptibilities.

Contamination of Frozen Broiler Chicken Meats with Antimicrobial Resistant Thermophilic Campylobacter in Morogoro, Tanzania

“…A higher level of resistance to tetracycline among C. Jejuni isolates was reported previously in the country [75]. Recent studies in the country have however reported a moderate frequency of tetracycline resistance among thermophilic Campylobacter isolates [9,66]. In these studies however the authors reported higher resistance levels to nalidixic acid among Campylobacter isolates which is in line with this study.…”

“…Resistance to these two antimicrobial agents was low in this study indicating that they may still be useful in the treatment of human campylobacteriosis in the country. A similar observation of low resistance to ciprofloxacin among thermophilic Campylobacter isolates was reported in a recent studies conducted in the country [9,66]. The authors however found higher frequencies of resistant isolates to erythromycin which is contrary to what we report in this study.…”

“…The organisms primarily colonize the small intestines of a wide variety of animals, avian being the most common reservoirs [6,7]. The frequently mentioned risk factor for human infections is consumption of raw or undercooked poultry meat [8,9]. Other food products can serve as sources of human infection through crosscontamination [10].…”

Bacteriophages: the possible solution to treat infections caused by pathogenic bacteria

“…Hospital-and community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were found to be resistant to many classes of antibiotics, including the 4th-generation fluoroquinolones, and can cause systemic infections with a mortality rate of 50% (Kollef and Micek 2005;Rubinstein et al 2008;Roberts et al 2013;Chang et al 2015). Other pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas, Campylobacter, and Listeria show similar trends of antibiotic resistance (Ozbey and Tasdemi 2014;Pobiega et al 2014;Komba et al 2015;Obaidat et al 2015). Expectedly, the incidence of resistance among …”

Prevalence and Antimicrobial Resistance ofCampylobacterIsolated from Dressed Beef Carcasses and Raw Milk in Tanzania

“…In addition, one study reported that more than 80% of 136 Campylobacter isolates associated with humans in Tanzania were resistant to erythromycin. 50 Resistance to macrolides (erythromycin and tylosin) could have been induced by extensive use of tylosin in Tanzania as a therapeutic agent for treatment of cattle respiratory conditions such as Mycoplasma infection. The usage of tylosin in animals for the purpose of either treatment or growth promotion contributes to the selection of resistant Campylobacter strains to erythromycin as well as to resistance to ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid.…”