Antimicrobial Resistance in Salmonella enterica Isolated From Pork, Chicken, and Vegetables in Southern Thailand

Salmonella is a common causative agent of food-borne illness in humans. Infection by this pathogen is usually due to ingestion of contaminated insufciently cooked foods. Despite the fact that several studies of the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella have been conducted in Thailand, there is limited data available concerning the more rural areas of the country. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance pro- fles of Salmonella in meat and vegetable samples taken from Phatthalung Province, Thailand. Materials and Methods: Pork and chicken meat and fresh vegetable samples were ran- domly selected from retail markets in Phatthalung Province. Salmonella isolation and identifcation were performed on the same day of sample collection. Serovar typing was performed by slide agglutination according to The Kaufman and White scheme. Anti- microbial susceptibility testing was performed by disc difusion method, and antimicro- bial susceptibility patterns were analyzed by the WHONET 5 program. Results: The prevalence of Salmonella in retail pork, chicken meat, and fresh vegetables were 82% (34/41), 67.5% (27/40), and 46% (37/80), respectively. The Salmonella isolated from pork, and vegetables were most resistant to tetracycline (77 and 33%) while the Salmo- nella isolated from chicken meat was most resistant to streptomycin (92%). Thirty-one samples (68%) isolated from pork and thirty-two samples (84%) isolated from chicken meat were of MDR strains. whereas only 7 samples (29%) isolated from vegetables exhib- ited resistance to two or more antimicrobial drugs. Conclusions: These results show that retail meat and vegetables can serve as a reservoir of multiple antimicrobial resistant Salmonella and can probably be a potential route of transmission of these pathogens into human population.