Prevalence and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Campylobacter species Isolated From Chicken and Beef Meat

To study prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in chicken and beef meat, and determine the drug susceptibility of strains, 450 samples in Tehran, Iran were investigated. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and the antimicrobial resistance of entropathogenic Campylobacter strains, especially C. jejuni isolated from raw chicken and beef meat in Tehran- Iran. Out of 250 chickens and 200 beef meats, 121 (26.8 %) contaminated cases with Campylobacter strains were isolated. Campylobacter was isolated from a significantly larger number of chickens (44%) than beef meats (5.5 %) (P < 0.05). From all isolated Campylobacter organisms, 93 (76.8%) species were identified as C. jejuni and 28 cases (23.1%) as C. coli. Susceptibilities of 121 strains (93 C. jejuni and 28 C. coli) were determined against 12 antimicrobial drugs using the disk agar diffusion method. Resistance to nalidixic acid (75%) and ciprofloxacin (50%) was an alarming finding, moreover, 32.6% of isolates was resistant to tetracycline, 10.8% to ampicillin, 29.3% to colisitin and 26.1% to amoxicillin. The highest sensitivity was seen to erythromycin (95 %) and gentamicin (96%). These results showed that a high proportion of chicken and beef meat in Iran is contaminated with Campylobacter, particularly with Campylobacter jejuni. The high rate of contamination, especially chicken is a significant public health concern. Most of the isolates were resistant; therefore, human infection with Campylobacter spp. via consumption of these products is possible.