Virulence and antimicrobial resistance pattern in Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli strains isolated from the liver of slaughtered broiler chickens in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of liver contamination in broiler chickens slaughtered in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari Province in two species of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli and to investigate the virulence and antibiotic resistance of isolated strains. In this study, 186 liver samples from broiler chickens slaughtered in the slaughterhouses of the province were randomly collected. After the isolation of Campylobacter by microbial culture, for definitive confirmation of Campylobacter in isolated strains and definitive differentiation of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, the detection of 16SrRNA, mapA and ceuE genes was performed by PCR method. Antibiotic resistance pattern and distribution of virulence factors were evaluated. Of the 186 liver samples collected, 94 samples (50.53%) were infected with Campylobacter species, of which 62 cases were infected with Campylobacter jejuni (65.95%), 26 infected samples were Campylobacter coli (27.6% ) and 11 samples were contaminated with both species (6.45%). All virulence genes except the iam gene were present in Campylobacter jejuni isolates, and in Campylobacter coli strains only 5 cdtA, cdtB, cdtC, ima and racR genes were detected. All of the 88 isolates studied had multiple antibiotic resistance and in 26 isolates of Campylobacter coli, the highest antibiotic resistance was observed for streptomycin (96.15%) and the lowest was chloramphenicol (7.69%). In Campylobacter jejuni strains, the highest and lowest antibiotic resistance levels belonged to the two antibiotics ciprofloxacin (72.58%) and erythromycin (4.83%), respectively. High prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in broiler chickens slaughtered in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari slaughterhouses and high antibiotic resistance of these isolates indicate a potential risk of liver contamination in human transmission.