AUTHOR=Bai Jie , Chen Zhengquan , Luo Kaijian , Zeng Fanliang , Qu Xiaoyun , Zhang Hongxia , Chen Kaifeng , Lin Qijie , He Haishan , Liao Ming , Zhang Jianmin 

TITLE=Highly Prevalent Multidrug-Resistant Campylobacter spp. Isolated From a Yellow-Feathered Broiler Slaughterhouse in South China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.682741

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.682741

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence, antimicrobial resistance, virulence genes, and genetic diversity of Campylobacter spp. along the yellow broiler slaughtering line in Southern China from December 2018 to June 2019. A total of 157 Campylobacter isolates were identified from 1102 samples (including 53.6% live chicken anal swabs, 27.5% defeathering, 18.1% evisceration, 2.1% washing, 1.4% chilling, and 1.1% environmental samples). The prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was 14.2%, including 43.9% Campylobacter jejuni, 53.5% Campylobacter coli, and 2.5% other Campylobacter species. The highest antimicrobial resistance rate was found to be against sulfamethoxazole (138/157, 87.9%), and 90.4% (142/157) of the isolates were multidrug-resistant (MDR). Examination of resistance-related genes revealed the novel mutation, C2113T, in 23S rRNA, as well as double base mutated Thr-86-Ile, which informed ACA-TTA, with an Arg-79-Lys substitution in gyrA. Eleven virulence-associated genes (cadF, cdtA, cdtB, ciaB, flaA, imaA, dnaJ, plaA, virB11, racR, and cdtC) were also detected by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis and cadF (81.5%) was the most prevalent. Based on an analysis of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) results, we found that Campylobacter spp. could be cross-contaminated throughout the entire slaughtering line. These results show that it is imperative to study the Campylobacter from the yellow-feather broilers along the slaughtering line in China to develop preventative and treatment measures for the poultry industry, as well as food safety and public health.