Abstract
The purpose of the study was to evaluate and compare the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter coli in conventional and organic pigs from France and Sweden. Fecal or colon samples were collected at farms or at slaughterhouses and cultured for Campylobacter. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin, tetracycline, erythromycin, and gentamicin were determined by microdilution for a total of 263 French strains from 114 pigs from 50 different farms and 82 Swedish strains from 144 pigs from 54 different farms. Erythromycin resistant isolates were examined for presence of the emerging rRNA methylase erm(B) gene. The study showed that within the colon samples obtained in each country there was no significant difference in prevalence of Campylobacter between pigs in organic and conventional productions [France: conventional: 43/58 (74%); organic: 43/56 (77%) and Sweden: conventional: 24/36 (67%); organic: 20/36 (56%)]. In France, but not in Sweden, significant differences of percentages of resistant isolates were associated with production type (tetracycline, erythromycin) and the number of resistances was significantly higher for isolates from conventional pigs. In Sweden, the number of resistances of fecal isolates was significantly higher compared to colon isolates. The erm(B) gene was not detected in the 87 erythromycin resistant strains tested.
Highlights
The organic pig sector is still a minority production in Europe, accounting in 2010 for approximately 0.33% in the EU-27
In this paper we present the results from the SafeOrganic project investigating C. coli from pigs sampled in two different countries (Sweden and France) and evaluate differences possibly linked to production type and country
Isolation rates of Campylobacter in samples collected from pigs in organic and conventional production were not significantly different: 77% (43/56) of the organic pigs and 74% (43/58) of the conventional pigs carried the bacteria in their colon content (Chi2, p > 0.05)
Summary
The organic pig sector is still a minority production in Europe, accounting in 2010 for approximately 0.33% (livestock units) in the EU-27. Organic production reached 0.9 million heads in 2011 and 0.6% of the total pig production of the EU-15 (European-Commission, 2013). The preventive use of chemically synthesized allopathic medicinal products is not permitted. For treatment of sick animals, chemically synthesized allopathic veterinary medicinal products including antibiotics, may be used when necessary. This is only allowed when the use of phytotherapeutic, homeopathic, and other products is inappropriate. If an animal or a group of animals receive more than one course of treatment and if their productive lifecycle is less than 1 year, the livestock concerned, or produce derived from them, may not be sold as organic products
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