Phenotypes, antibacterial-resistant profile, and virulence-associated genes of Salmonella serovars isolated from retail chicken meat in Egypt.

Amal Awad,Mayada Gwida,Asmaa Sadat,Eman Khalifa

doi:10.14202/vetworld.2020.440-445

Amal Awad, Mayada Gwida + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2020.440-445

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Abstract

Aim:The present study was designed to investigate the occurrence and distribution of Salmonella serotypes in chicken meat samples, and to explore the susceptibility of the strains to antimicrobials, as well as their virulence-associated genes.Materials and Methods:Two-hundred retail chicken meat samples from different shops, as well as 25 stool specimens from retail shop workers, were included in the study. The collected samples were examined bacteriologically for the presence of salmonellae. Salmonella isolates were serotyped using a slide agglutination test for O and H antigens and were screened for the presence of five virulence genes (stn, pef, inv A , sop B , and avrA) using a uniplex polymerase chain reaction assay and for their susceptibility to 18 antimicrobial agents using the disk diffusion method.Results:Thirty-one Salmonella isolates belonging to 12 different serovars were identified. Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Kentucky were the dominant serovars (22.6% each). Salmonella isolates displayed a high antibiotic resistance against erythromycin, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, doxycycline, cephalexin, cefaclor, tetracycline, polymyxin B, cefuroxime, vancomycin, and streptomycin. All Salmonella isolates exhibited multidrug resistance (MDR) and demonstrated different virulence genes. The majority of Salmonella serovars (87.1%) harbored sopB gene, 54.8% carried avrA and pef genes, while all isolates carried invA and stn genes.Conclusion:The presence of virulent MDR Salmonellae in raw chicken meat could allow the possibility of transmission of these resistant serovars to humans. Therefore, strict hygienic measures should be followed on the whole poultry production chain to decrease the potential transmission of Salmonella infection from poultry meat to humans.

Highlights

Foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella (S) enterica species represent an important worldwide public health problem
The presence of virulent multidrug resistance (MDR) Salmonellae in raw chicken meat could allow the possibility of transmission of these resistant serovars to humans
The Salmonella isolates demonstrated a high resistance against E (96.78%), followed by SXT (93.55%), DO and CL (93.55%), CXM (83.33%), CEC (87.19%), S (80.65%), Polymyxin B (PB) (83.33%), TE (83.88%), P (70.97%), AX (67.8%), AMC (83.88%), VA (83.88%), RA (70.97%), and AZM (58.07%) (Table-3)

Summary

Introduction

Foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella (S) enterica species represent an important worldwide public health problem. Salmonella remains one of the major zoonotic bacterial foodborne pathogens, resulting in 93.8 million annual cases among patients having gastroenteritis, with an estimated 155,000 deaths each year [1]. Poultry is considered the main reservoir for a significant number of infections with S. enterica species, involving cross-contamination events at both the farm and retail levels [2]. A diverse incidence of salmonellosis has been reported recently [3]. The clinical manifestations of the disease among human patients ranged from self-limiting gastroenteritis to severe invasive meningitis, septicemia, and osteomyelitis [4]. The majority of cases are caused by the fecal contamination of foods of animal origin or the consumption of poultry or its products [5]

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