[Antibiotic resistance of Campylobacter jejuni strains isolated from food products]

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading member of the genus Campylobacter which cause up to 90% of laboratory confirmed cases of campylobacteriosis. The most important characteristic defining the biological features of C. jejuni is their sensitivity to antibiotics. Agricultural intensification, expansion of the range of the used disinfectants and antiseptics, uncontrolled use of antibiotics in animal production is increasingly leading to the selection of the most resistant forms of Campylobacter with antibiotic resistance and multiple virulence factors. The study of antibiotic resistance of C. jejuni isolated from food and environment need for the development of new approaches for laboratory diagnosis of campylobacteriosis and confirmation of the role of food path of transmission, for creation the system of preventive measures to reduce the risk of contamination of food by Campylobacter spp. in Russia. The aim of this study was to investigate the phenotypic profiles of antibiotic resistance of Campylobacter spp. isolated from poultry and the environment in the poultry processing industry. In the analysis of 110 samples of raw poultry products and swabs from surfaces of the equipment 55 strains of the genus Campylobacter were selected, including 46 strains of C. jejuni. For study sensitivity of these strains to 15 antimicrobials (8 classes) disk diffusion assays were done using the EUCAST protocol. The following antibiotics were used: nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, gentamicin, amikacin, kanamycin, tetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, clindamycin, lincomycin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, florfenicol, cefotaxime. All C. jejuni strains were resistant to cephalothin, which confirms their belonging to this species. 89% of the strains were insensitive to nalidixic acid, which indicates the reduction of informativeness of this test, traditionally used in the standard scheme of species identification of Саmpylobacter spp. Most of the investigated isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (96.3%) and tetracycline (88.6%), 34% of strains had resistance to erythromycin; 40% of tested C. jejuni were multi-resistant to four or more antibiotics. The data indicate a high prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains among campylobacteria, contaminated poultry products during the processing of raw materials.