Investigating the prevalence, genetic diversity and antibiotic resistance of Clostridium difficile in local and industrial chicken and turkey meat in sales centers of Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari province.

Clostridium difficile is an obligate anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium with a length of 3-5 micrometers and most important enteropathogens in humans and livestock. Antibiotic use has been introduced as one of the most important risk factors in the spread of this disease. Antibiotics such as amoxicillin, erythromycin, lincomycin, clindamycin, linozoid, metopenem, metronidazole, amoxifloxacin, penicillin, pyracillin, tetracycline, and vancomycin have been introduced as common cases of "nosocomial Clostridium difficile infection". The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence, antibiotic resistance and genetic diversity of Clostridium difficile bacteria as a possible new foodborne pathogen in 300 domestic and industrial chicken and turkey meat samples in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces. The samples were grown in CDMN agar culture medium after an enrichment step to isolate Clostridium difficile. To determine the characteristics of the toxin, tcdA and tcdB genes were identified through multiplex PCR. The antibiotic sensitivity of these isolates was monitored based on the MIC test. The results showed that the highest prevalence was related to native chicken meat (5.6%) and the lowest prevalence was related to industrial turkey meat (1%). The genes responsible for the production of tcdB and tcdA toxins were observed in all Clostridium difficile isolates. Also, the highest resistance was related to erythromycin (14.85%) and the lowest resistance was related to vancomycin (97.38%). According to the isolation of two main genes causing hospital infection in clinical environments in the present study, the establishment of health systems in relation to the storage of the studied meats is necessary..