Prevalence and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Thermophilic Campylobacter jejuni from Commercial Broiler Farms in and Around Lahore

ABSTRACT Campylobacter jejuni is one of the most important poultry commensal causing food-borne zoonosis in human. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence and the antibiotic resistance profile of multiple drugs resistant (MDR) strains of thermophilic C. jejuni from broiler chickens. A total of 375 cloacal swab samples were collected by systematic sampling method of commercial broiler farms in and around Lahore and examined for the presence of thermophilic C. jejuni. Their prevalence was found to be 53% (200/375). Confirmation was done by biochemical and molecular (Polymerase chain reaction) testing methods. Phylogenetic tree analysis was also performed for genetic identification of the species. in vitro antibiotic disc diffusion method of those selected isolates was performed against 20 most common human therapeutic antibiotics. The isolates were found to be highly resistant against most of the available antibiotics leaving behind very less choice of selection for treatment. The results are as follows: ciprofloxacin (91%), clindamycin (87%), moxifloxacin (84%), telithromycin (82%), erythromycin (82%), clarithromycin (76%), nalidixic acid (76%), azithromycin (69%), ampicillin (62%), co-amoxiclav (56%), chloramphenicol (51%), tetracycline (50%), tygecycline (45%), norfloxacin (27%), gentamicin (25%), levofloxacin (24%), ofloxacin (20%), imipenum (4%), meropenum (2%) and ceftazidime (1%). Carbapenums (imipenum and meropenum) and cephalosporin (ceftazidime) was found to be highly effective against these MDR thermophilic C. jejuni isolates. Its efficacy for the treatment of campylobacteriosis should be further evaluated in clinical trials.