Aliarcobacter butzleri from Water Poultry: Insights into Antimicrobial Resistance, Virulence and Heavy Metal Resistance

is the most prevalent species and has been isolated from a wide variety of sources. This species is an emerging foodborne and zoonotic pathogen because the bacteria can be transmitted by contaminated food or water and can cause acute enteritis in humans. Currently, there is no database to identify antimicrobial/heavy metal resistance and virulence-associated genes specific for . The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial susceptibility and resistance profile of two isolates from Muscovy ducks ( ) reared on a water poultry farm in Thuringia, Germany, and to create a database to fill this capability gap. The taxonomic classification revealed that the isolates belong to the gen. nov. as comb. nov. The antibiotic susceptibility was determined using the gradient strip method. While one of the isolates was resistant to five antibiotics, the other isolate was resistant to only two antibiotics. The presence of antimicrobial/heavy metal resistance genes and virulence determinants was determined using two custom-made databases. The custom-made databases identified a large repertoire of potential resistance and virulence-associated genes. This study provides the first resistance and virulence determinants database for .