Occurrence, antibiotic resistance and genetic profiles of arcobacter isolated from chicken carcasses in Bangkok

Abstract

To determine the occurrence, antibiotic resistance and genetic profiles of Arcobacter. One hundred and eighty whole chicken carcasses were collected from 15 fresh markets and 19 supermarkets located in Bangkok during 2010-2011. Arcobacter isolated strains were tested for their antimicrobial resistance to 6 antimicrobial agents including ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid and tetracycline using the agar dilution method. In addition, repetitive element sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were also performed to study the genetic characteristics of Arcobacter. The results showed that chicken carcasses sold in Bangkok were highly contaminated with Arcobacter. All of chicken samples from fresh markets (100%) and 73.7% of chicken carcasses from supermarkets were positive for Arcobacter. The most common antimicrobial resistance observed in the present study was nalidixic acid resistance which was found in 114 Arcobacter isolates (76.0%), followed by ciprofloxacin resistance which was found in 69 Arcobacter isolates (46.0%), while the resistance rate to other antimicrobials tested was less than 3%. The results of rep-PCR and PFGE were in agreement which revealed a high degree of genetic diversity of Arcobacter. The presence of a variety of Arcobacter strains may reflect that there were multiple sources of contamination. Further investigations are needed to identify the source of contamination in order to effectively control and reduce the occurrence of this emerging foodborne pathogen.