Antimicrobial resistances, and molecular typing of Campylobacter jejuni isolates, separated from food-producing animals and diarrhea patients in Iran

The aims of this study were to regain new epidemiology information about frequency, drug resistance rates, and typing of Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) isolates, obtained from some poultry and cattle farms, slaughterhouses, and people with diarrhea. In this regard, Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of several antibiotics and the associated antibiotic resistance genes, including tetO, tetA, cmeB, and blaOXA-61 were evaluated. The isolates were also typed, using the Fla-RFLP method. Generally, between 233 food animal samples, 80 (34.33%) C. jejuni were isolated. Moreover, 20 out of 74 (27%) human specimens suspected to infectious diarrhea were C. jejuni positive. High frequencies of resistance to tetracycline (100%), ciprofloxacin (95%), and nalidixic acid (86%), and low frequencies of resistance to florfenicol (0%), erythromycin (5%), and gentamicin (8%) were observed. Furthermore, in the tetracycline-resistant isolates, the existences of tetO, tetA, and cmeB were 86%, 23%, and 48%, respectively. There was a significant correlation between the cluster types obtained from Fla-RFLP method and antibiotic resistance pattern. The results suggested that the genomic link between Campylobacter spp. should be always evaluated in each country to provide an insight about the Campylobacter spp., spread in the region, in order to implement the health-controlling programs efficiently.