Abstract
We examined whole-genome–sequenced Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli from 2012–2015 isolated from birds and human stool samples in North East Scotland for the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes. We found that sequence type (ST) 5136 (clonal complex 464) was the most prevalent multidrug-resistant strain of C. jejuni exclusively associated with poultry host reservoirs and recovered from human cases of campylobacteriosis. Tetracycline resistance in ST5136 isolates was due to a tet(O/32/O) mosaic gene, ampicillin resistance was conferred by G → T transversion in the −10 promoter region of blaOXA-193, fluoroquinolone resistance was due to C257T change in gyrA, and aminoglycoside resistance was conferred by aac. Whole-genome analysis showed that the strain ST5136 evolved from ST464. The nationwide emergence of ST5136 was probably due to stepwise acquisition of antimicrobial resistance genes selected by high use of β-lactam, tetracycline, fluoroquinolone, and aminoglycoside classes of drugs in the poultry industry.
Highlights
We examined whole-genome–sequenced Campylobacter jejuni/ and C. coli from 2012–2015 isolated from birds and human stool samples in North East Scotland for the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes
Enrofloxacin and difloxacin are licensed for poultry use; 0.5 metric tons of active ingredient were sold for use in poultry production in 2015 to the British Poultry Council, a national trade group that accounts for 90% of all broilers produced in the United Kingdom [12]
The widespread presence of antimicrobial resistance in Campylobacter spp. in retail poultry in the United Kingdom suggests horizontal transfer and mutational events within and between broiler farms and environmental conditions leading to proliferation of antibiotic-resistant lineages [37,38]
Summary
We examined whole-genome–sequenced Campylobacter jejuni/ and C. coli from 2012–2015 isolated from birds and human stool samples in North East Scotland for the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes. We found that sequence type (ST) 5136 (clonal complex 464) was the most prevalent multidrug-resistant strain of C. jejuni exclusively associated with poultry host reservoirs and recovered from human cases of campylobacteriosis. The nationwide emergence of ST5136 was probably due to stepwise acquisition of antimicrobial resistance genes selected by high use of β-lactam, tetracycline, fluoroquinolone, and aminoglycoside classes of drugs in the poultry industry. Treatment with fluoroquinolones has been challenging because of an increasing prevalence of fluoroquinolone resistance in human Campylobacter isolates that led to the ban of the fluoroquinolone enrofloxacin for use in poultry in the United States in 2004 [10]. A report commissioned by the UK Food Standards Agency shows that drug-resistant Campylobacter species are becoming more
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