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

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

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.682741

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence, antimicrobial resistance, virulence genes, and genetic diversity of Campylobacter spp. along the yellow-feathered broiler slaughtering line in Southern China from December 2018 to June 2019. A total of 157 Campylobacter spp. isolates were identified from 1,102 samples (including 53.6% (75/140) of live chicken anal swab samples, 27.5% (44/160) of defeathering samples, 18.1% (29/160) of evisceration samples, 2.1% (3/140) of washing samples, 1.4% (2/140) of chilling samples, and 1.1% (4/362) of 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 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 spp. from the yellow-feathered broiler along the slaughtering line in China to develop preventative and treatment measures for the poultry industry, as well as food safety and public health.

Highlights

Campylobacter spp. is the most common causative agent of foodborne diseases, with Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli representing (Newell and Fearnley, 2003; Ma et al, 2014)
A total of 157 (157/1102, 14.2%) Campylobacter spp. isolates were identified from 1,102 samples (Table 1), which consisted of a high prevalence in three processes: (1) 75 (75/140, 53.6%) isolates from live chicken anal swabs; (2) 44 (44/160, 27.5%) isolates from defeathering; and (3) 29 (29/160, 18.1%) isolates from evisceration
Two significant decreases were observed for C. jejuni: (1) from 23.6% (33/140) in the process of live chicken anal swabs to 13.8% (22/160) during defeathering and (2) 13.8% (22/160) during defeathering to 5.6% (9/140) in evisceration

Summary

Introduction

Campylobacter spp. is the most common causative agent of foodborne diseases, with Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli representing (Newell and Fearnley, 2003; Ma et al, 2014). The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that Campylobacter spp. infections affect more than 1.5 million people in the United States every year, there. In China, yellow-feathered broiler is a Chinese-specific broiler industry. The European Commission has established microbiological processing hygiene criteria for Campylobacter spp. in broiler carcasses (European Commision, 2017); few studies have focused on the entire slaughtering chain of yellow-feathered broiler. Detecting the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. during the slaughtering process of yellow-feathered broiler is essential

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