Περίληψη:
Enteric faecal flora of food-producing animals such as poultry is a
potential reservoir for antimicrobial resistance genes which can be
transferred to human pathogens via the food chain. The present study
investigated 47 strains of Enterobacteriaceae recovered from a variety
of chicken specimens for their resistance to 18 antimicrobial agents and
the presence of integrons, and analyzed the association between
integrons and antimicrobial susceptibility. Multidrug resistance was
found in 82.9% of the isolates. The presence of integrons was shown in
68.1% of the strains tested: 42.5% carried a class 1 integron, 10.6%
carried a class 2 integron, and 14.9% had both class 1 and 2 integrons.
An unusual cassette aacA4-catB3-dfrA1 was revealed in two class 1
integron-positive isolates. The association between the presence of an
integron and multidrug resistance was significant (p < 0.05). The
mercury resistance gene, merA, was found in 44.4% of strains with class
1 integron, indicating the role of Tn21 transposon in dissemination of
integrons within the samples studied. The study gives baseline
information on the resistance problem and its genetic background in
contemporary poultry Enterobacteriaceae in Greece, and suggest the need
for the introduction of surveillance programs to monitor antimicrobial
resistance that can be potentially transmitted to humans.
Συγγραφείς:
Dakic, Ivana
Petrikkos, G.
Dimitrijevic, V
Charvalos,
Ekatherini
