Prevalence, seasonality and antibiotic susceptibility of thermophilic Campylobacters in ceca and carcasses of poultry birds in the live-bird market

Abstract

Thermophilic Campylobacter spp. are the primary cause of human diarrhea. The common source of infection is contaminated poultry. This study aimed to establish the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in poultry obtained from 'pluck shops' and provide a baseline of resistance profiles of Campylobacter spp. isolates obtained. A biphasic approach, with qualitative detection as well as quantitative enumeration of Campylobacter spp. was used. We examined 240 samples each, of carcasses and cecum of poultry obtained from 'pluck shops. Amongst the cecum samples and carcasses, 59.5 and 57%, respectively were positive for Campylobacter spp. The average Campylobacter spp. concentration was 2.69 (S.D 0.419) log 10 CFU/mL and 4.55 (S.D 0.607) log 10 CFU/g for carcass rinsate and cecum, respectively. Of the 225 Campylobacter isolates studied, 76.9% were identified as Campylobacter jejuni and 23.1% as Campylobacter coli. Susceptibilities for 112 strains of C. jejuni and 31 strains of C. coli were determined for 12 antibiotics by the agar diffusion technique. According to the minimal inhibitory concentration, a marked resistance to gentamycin and chloramphenicol was also demonstrated. According to the antibiotic resistance profiles, the isolates appeared to differ from each other.