Campylobacter strains isolated from slaughtered chickens: their sensitivity to antibiotics and resistance to...

Antibiograms for 304 Campylobacter strains isolated in Csongrád county from slaughtered chickens in the years 1981 to 1983 were determined with the disk-agar diffusion method. The isolates, originating from two poultry-processing plants and two canteen kitchens proved to be sensitive to nalidixic acid, chloramphenicol, gentamicin and nitrofurantoin and resistant to penicillin. The antibiogram depended on the source of samples and, to a higher degree, on the year of sampling. The frequency of strains resistant to erythromycin was 5.7% in 1981 and 39.8% in 1983; for the resistant strains the minimum inhibiting concentration was greater than 250 micrograms erythromycin per ml. In the same periods 25.0% and 32.8% of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline and 23.3% and 49.2% to lincomycin, respectively. Simultaneous resistance to tetracycline, lincomycin and erythromycin occurred in 16.4% of the isolates.