Phenotypic and molecular detection of metallo-β-lactamase genes of Salmonella enterica strains isolated from poultry meat

The present study was carried out to detect Salmonella enterica in meat samples of commercial boilers (CB) and the spent hens (SH) in Ardabil, Iran. Metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) enzyme produced by Salmonella enterica strains isolated from poultry meat samples were detected by both biochemical and molecular methods. The study included 20 positive samples for Salmonella  enterica from boilers (CB) and spent hens (SH). The prevalence of Salmonella enterica for CB was 22% (11/50) and for SH was 18% (9/50). The antibiotic susceptibility testing for both CB and SH showed maximum number of Salmonella enterica isolates were resistant against Augmentin (30 μg), Cotrimaxazole (25 μg) and Tetracycline (25 μg) and susceptible against Ofloxacin (5 μg) and Gentamicin (10 μg). Screening phenotypic confirmatory test for Metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) for CB, (n= 11, 100%) were positive for MBL while for SH (n= 8, 88.88%) samples were positive for MBL. The results showed that MBL positive Salmonella enterica isolates from CB and SH meat samples contained gene blaVIM (n=11, 57.89%), blaIMP (n=6, 31.57%) and blaSPM-1(n=2, 10.52%). Since Salmonella infections in poultry are high due to large demand and antibiotic resistance to strains, so the purpose of the current study is to focus on the detection of MBL enzyme produced by Salmonella enterica isolates.